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THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 



^^' - ' tr. 



i'XM,»£jSiaS^^J,,BS;Ii 




THE 

LOMBARD COMMUNES 

A HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICS 
OF NORTH ITALY 



BY 

W. F. BUTLER, M.A. 

PROFESSOR OF MODERN LANGUAGES, QUEEN'S COLLEGE, CORK 



ILLUSTRATED 



Vagliami il lungo studio e'l grande amore 



NEW YORK 
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 

153-157. FIFTH AVENUE 
1906 



^ 



J^ 






^7 



{All rights reserved^ 



PREFACE 

In tracing this history of the city-states of Lombardy I 
have rehed in the main for the facts on Lanzani's " Storia 
dei Comuni itahani," and on the works, earlier in 
date, but differing but little as to the events recorded, of 
Leo, von Raumer, and Sismondi. But I have carefully 
checked their statements by reference to Muratori's great 
compilation, the "Annali d' Italia," and to the contem- 
porary chronicles published by him in the " Rerum 
Italicarum Scriptores." 

For special points I have consulted numerous other 
works, amongst which are specially to be named Salzer's 
" Ueber die Anfange der Signorie in Oberitalien " and 
Cipolla's " Storia di Verona." Cantu, in his " Storia degli 
Italiani " and " Storia di Como," gives many curious details 
as to life and manners. Ferrari's " Histoire des Revo- 
lutions d'ltalie," though its political theories are wild in 
the extreme, gives perhaps the best idea of the warfare 
between city and city, and the fury of internal factions. 

There are, however, one or two points in regard to 
which I differ from most of the writers quoted. 

Lanzani, following Ferrari and others, lays down a 
theory of the origins of the internal feuds of the Italian 
cities, which has found great favour in the peninsula. 
He holds that these factions were, in a large measure, the 
result of an antagonism between the civic nobility, who 
were to a certain extent of Roman descent, or who, at 
any rate, had imbibed Roman ideas, and the country 
nobles, men in whom German ideas still survived, and 
who had been forced by the victorious burghers to come 
and live within the walls of the cities. 

6 



6 PREFACE 

But this theory seems to me to be entirely unsupported 
by evidence, a point already mentioned by Salzer. It is 
often easy to class the noble families of a city into two 
opposing factions. But it would be practically im- 
possible to find any case in which one of these factions 
represented the original civic aristocracy, the other the 
conquered country nobles. 

Again, Leo and Sismondi, in their account of the 
factions in the north-east of Italy in the early thirteenth 
century, represent the family of Romano as at the head 
of a noble or Ghibelline party, in opposition to a popular 
Guelf one. But, apart from the fact that the use of the 
names Guelf and Ghibelline is here an anachronism, 
the attitude of the house of Romano towards the Empire 
and towards the nobles is entirely misrepresented. So 
far from being a partisan of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, 
Ezzelino the Stammerer, the first of his house to rise to 
prominence, had so incurred the enmity of Barbarossa, 
that a special clause to secure him against the Emperor's 
vengeance was inserted into the Peace of Constanz. 
His son Ezzelino the Monk sided with Otho of Saxony, 
the rival of Frederick II. of Hohenstaufen. And though 
the last and most famous Ezzelino won most of his 
renown as a partisan of Frederick II., in his early career, 
as Gittermann has clearly shown, he had been hostile to 
that sovereign. 

And in the second place, when the house of Romano 
appears as the chief disturbing element in the north-east 
of Italy we find it, not heading a faction of country 
nobles against the burghers of the towns, but, on the 
contrary, allied with the popular party in Verona, and 
with Salinguerra of Ferrara, whom we are expressly told 
was supported by the " plebeians " there, and in oppo- 
sition to the great noble houses of the Veronese Mark 
— the Marquises of Este, the Counts of San Bonifazio, 
the Lords of Camino and Camposampiero. To all these 
great nobles the House of Romano must, as a matter of 
fact, have appeared as mere upstarts. 

I have selected the maps to illustrate as far as possible 
the manner in which now one faction now the other got 



PREFACE 7 

the upper hand in the Communes. The boundaries of 
the various city-states are taken from those given in the 
historical atlases of Spruner-Menke and Droysen, with 
some small modifications suggested by the chronicles. 
The material at present available for Piedmont is very 
unsatisfactory. With regard to maps iv and v, I 
have coloured the whole of the district subject to each 
city with the colour of the faction which for the moment 
was the prevailing one in the city itself. But it must be 
remembered that in almost every case there was a body 
of exiles in possession of a greater or lesser number of 
the country castles and the districts adjoining them. 

A book dealing with Italy hardly seems complete 
without some mention of literature and art. But as 
regards literature in the vulgar tongue and painting, 
though the Tuscans before the date at which this work 
ends had already achieved some of their greatest 
triumphs in these fields, what the Lombards had ac- 
complished is so slight as to be hardly worth noticing. 

With architecture, however, things are very different. 
Lombardy possesses a remarkable wealth of monuments, 
extending from the days of the Roman Empire to those 
of the Renaissance. In a city like Verona, for instance, 
there is an almost unbroken succession of remains cover- 
ing the whole of that period. 

The epoch more especially dealt with in this work, the 
age of the free cities, has left us abundance of memorials 
in both religious and secular edifices. In Modena and 
Parma, in Cremona and Pavia we find churches in 
that style of Romanesque architecture to which the 
special name of Lombard is given, within whose walls 
were held the first assemblies of the burghers of the 
growing city republics, before whose altars knelt the men 
who went forth to conquer at Legnano, to whose shrines 
came some German Caesar to return thanks for a fleeting 
victory over the liberties of the Communes. And to 
these solemn piles, with their porches supported by lions 
carved in marble, their fa9ades covered with grotesque 
carvings of men and animals, their massive walls relieved 
by round-arched colonnades, their high raised sanctuaries 



8 PREFACE 

under which are dim crypts supported by contorted 
pillars, succeed the lighter forms of the pointed arch, 
introduced from beyond the Alps. 

As regards secular buildings, the grim square towers 
still stand in Bologna and Mantua, Pavia and Asti which 
recall the days when round their bases rang the clash of 
arms of rival factions, Verona, Brescia, Bergamo, 
Piacenza show us noble examples of the magnificence of 
the Communes. The public palace, or seat of govern- 
ment, called by various names — Palace of the Commune, 
Broletto, Palace of Justice or of Reason — is still one of the 
chief features of these and other cities. From under the 
great archway the Carroccio bearing the battle-flag of the 
republic was drawn into the piazza by the hands of 
children or noble ladies, while the bell in the great tower 
above rang out defiance to some rival Commune. In 
the great halls in the upper storey met the various councils 
of the state. From the richly decorated balcony project- 
ing from the centre of the pile the rulers harangued the 
people, or, if they lost the favour of the fickle populace, 
were hurled down to the vengeance of the mob seething 
in the piazza below. 

But there is no lack of books in English dealing with 
these buildings from the point of view of architecture. 
My intention has been rather to tell of the purposes for 
which these edifices were constructed, and the times of 
which they are a memorial. 



CONTENTS 



PAGE 
PREFACE . . . . . . . .5 

TABLE OF PRINCIPAL DATES . . . . . I3 

GENEALOGICAL TABLE . . . . . . 15 

ROUGH LIST OF BOOKS USEFUL FOR THE STUDY OF THE 

HISTORY OF THE LOMBARD COMMUNES . . . 17 

CHAPTER I 
WHAT LOMBARDY IS, AND HOW MUCH . . . . iq ^ 

CHAPTER n 
THE RULE OF THE BISHOPS . . . . .28 

CHAPTER ni 
THE RISE OF THE COMMUNES . . . . .50/ 

CHAPTER IV 

MILAN AND HER NEIGHBOURS ..... 78 

CHAPTER V 
MILAN AND FREDERICK BARBAROSSA . . . -99 



CHAPTER VI 
THE LOMBARD LEAGUE . 



123 



10 CONTENTS 

CHAPTER VII 

PAGE 
THE CONQUEST OF THE CONTADO AND THE GROWTH OF 

FACTION ........ 159 

CHAPTER VIII 
THE WARS OF THE CITIES AND THE FACTIONS OF THE MARK 202 

CHAPTER IX 

FREDERICK, THE WONDER OF THE WORLD, AND THE SECOND ^ 

LOMBARD LEAGUE ...... 232 

CHAPTER X 
FREDERICK'S WAR WITH THE LOMBARDS AND WITH THE CHURCH . 263 

CHAPTER XI 
THE FALL OF EZZELINO — THE CAREER OF OBERTO PELAVICINI 3IO 

CHAPTER XII 
GUELFS AND GHIBELLINES AND THE RISE OF THE POPOLO . 34I 

CHAPTER XIII 

THE RISE OF THE TYRANNIES — THE COMING OF HENRY OF 

LUXEMBURG ....... 377 

CHAPTER XIV 
VISCONTI AND DELLA SCALA . . . . . ' 407 

CHAPTER XV 
THE LAST STRUGGLES OF THE COMMUNES .... 435 / 

INDEX ........ 465 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



BOLOGNA .... 

VERONA .... 

TOMB OF THEODORIC, RAVENNA . 

CHARLEMAGNE 

OTHO I. , 

HENRY IV. . 

GREGORY VII. 

" TORRE E LOGGIA " 

ISOLA COMACINA 

CONRAD III. . . 

FREDERICK I. . . . 

MILAN. NAVIGLIO GRANDE 

MILAN. PORTA TICINESE . 

ALEXANDER III. AND THE DOGE OF VENICE 

HENRY VI. (FROM A MINNESINGER MS. OF THE I4TH 

SAN GEMIGNANO .... 

A TOWER, MANTUA ... 

GATEWAY, CITTADELLA 

TOWERS OF SAN GEMIGNANO 

SOAVE. A FORTRESS OF THE COUNTS OF SAN BONIFAZIO 

SOAVE. ANOTHER VIEW . 

TREVISO. SALONE DEL GRAN CONSIGLIO 

COMO. BROLETTO . . . 

FREDERICK II. WITH HIS HAWKS . 

SEAL OF FREDERICK II. A HOHENSTAUFEN KNIGHT 

MAROSTICA ...... 

11 



century) 



Frontispiece 


Facing page 


26 


)) 


34 


I) 


36 


)) 


51 


!> 


52 


)) 


66 


„ 


80 


!J 


87 


)) 


97 


)) 


99 


>, 


105 


» 


132 


„ 


151 


Y) „ 


163 


„ 


16S 


11 


179 


!) 


180 


J) 


192 


10 „ 


206 


» 


208 


)) 


220 


I> 


227 


.. 


235 


» 


242 


H 


246 



/-' 



/- 



12 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



BASSANO 

VICENZA 

MONSELICE 

BERGAMO. BROLETTO 

BASSANO. EZZELINO'S CASTLE 

SOAVE. THE KEEP 

BOLOGNA. TOMB OF R. PASSEGGIERI 

CITTADELLA, WITH PRISON OF MALTA 

VERONA. ROMAN BRIDGE . 

VERONA. CHURCH OF SAN GIORGIO 

PIACENZA. CATHEDRAL . 
VERONA. PALAZZO DELLA RAGIONE 
BOLOGNA. LEANING TOWERS 
THE GREAT TOWER OF CREMONA . 
THE CASTLE OF ESTE 
THE CASTLE OF SIRMIONE . 
VERONA. CHURCH OF SAN ZENONE 
ELECTION OF HENRY VII. 
VERONA. BRIDGE AND CASTLE OF THE 
VICENZA. CHURCH OF SAN LORENZO 
TOMB OF CAN GRANDE DELLA SCALA 
MANTUA. PALACE OF THE BONACCOLSI 
PAVIA IN THE i6tH CENTURY 



SCALIGERS 



Facing page 



LIST OF MAPS. 



GENERAL MAP OF LOMBARDY 
LOMBARDY IN 12 12 
LOMBARDY IN 1 255 
LOMBARDY IN 1280 
LOMBARDY IN 13IO 
LOMBARDY IN I336 



TABLE OF PRINCIPAL DATES 

A.D, 

410. Alaric takes Rome. 

476, Odovacer deposes the Emperor Romulus Augustulus. 

493. The Goths conquer Italy. 

553. Justinian subdues all Italy, 

568. The Lombards invade Italy. 

750 or 51. The Lombards capture Ravenna. 

754. Pepin, king of the Franks, invades Italy. 

756. Pepin's donation of the Exarchate of Ravenna and the 
Pentapolis to St. Peter. 

773, Lombard kingdom destroyed by Franks. 

800. Charlemagne receives the Imperial Crown in Rome from 
Pope Leo III. 
>^962. Otho the Great crowned Emperor at Rome. 
1074. Degree of Pope Gregory VII. concerning Investitures. 
1 122. Concord of Worms. 
1 152. Accession of Frederick Barbarossa. 
1 162. Destruction of Milan. 
.1167. The Lombard League formed. 
1 176. Battle of Legnano. 
1 1 83. Peace of Constance. 

1 197-1209. Contest for Imperial Crown between Philip of 
— Hohenstaufen and Otho of Bavaria. 

I2I2. Otho quarrels with Pope Innocent III., who sets up 

Frederick II. of Hohenstaufen as Emperor. 
1220. Frederick II. crowned at Rome. 
1226. Second Lombard League formed. 
1237, Battle of Cortenuova. 
1247. Revolt of Parma from Frederick II. 

1250. Death of Frederick II. The Great Interregnum till 1273. 
1259. Downfall of Ezzelino. 
1266. Invasion of Charles of Anjou. 
1277. The Visconti expel the Delia Torre from Milan. 
1290. Downfall of William of Montferrat. 
1302. The Delia Torre expel the Visconti from Milan. 
13 10. Henry of Luxemburg comes to Italy. 

13 



14 TABLE OF PRINCIPAL DATES 

A.D. 

13 13. Death of the Emperor Henry of Luxemburg. 

1327. Louis of Bavaria comes to Italy and deprives the Visconti of 

their power. 
1330. King John of Bohemia comes to Italy. 
1332. League formed by the Despots of Lombardy against 

King John. 
1336. Piacenza surrenders to Azzo Visconti. 



THE SAXON LINE 

Henry I. " The Fowler," German King, 919-936. 



Otho I., King 936, Emperor 962 ; 
I died 973. 

Otho II., 973-983- 
Otho III., 983-1002. 



Henry, Duke of Bavaria. 

Henry II., Duke of Bavaria. 

Saint Henry, Emperor 1002-1024. 



THE SALIAN OR FRANCONIAN LINE 

Conrad " The Salic," great grandson of Liutgarde, sister of 
I Otho II., Emperor 1024-1039. 

Henry III., 1039-1056. 

Henry IV., 1056-1106. 



THE HOHENSTAUFEN 
LINE. 



Henry V., 1106-1125. 



Agnes = Frederick, Duke of 
j Swabia. 



Lothair of Saxony, 
1125-1138. 



Frederick, Conrad III., Otho, Bishop 

Duke of Emperor of 

Swabia. 1138-1152. Freisingen. 



Frederick " Barbarossa," Emperor 
I 1152-1190. 



Otho of Bavaria or 
Saxony, d. 12 18. 



Henry VI., 
Emperor 
1190-97. 



Frederick 



Philip of Swabia, 
killed 1208. 



Frederick II., 
Emperor 1112-1150. 



Henry, 
0. s. p. 1242. 



Conrad IV., 
1250-54. 



Henry, 
0. s. p. 1253. 



Manfred, 

killed 1266 

(illegitimate). 



Conradin, beheaded 1268. 



ROUGH LIST OF BOOKS USEFUL FOR THE 
STUDY OF THE HISTORY OF THE 
LOMBARD COMMUNES 

Cantia, C. Ezzelino da Romano. Milan, 1879. 

„ Storia degli Italiani. Turin, 1855. 

„ „ dellaCittaedellaDiocesidiComo. Florence, 1856. 

Cipolla. Compendio della Storia politica di Verona. Verona, igoo. 
Conferenze Fiorentine suUa vita italiana, Articles by Bonfadini and 

others in. Milan, 1895. 
Ferrari. Histoire des Revolutions d'ltalie. Paris, 1858. 
Fisher. The Medieval Empire. London, 1898. 
Gittermann. Ezzelino von Romano. Stuttgart, 1890. 
Hegel. Geschichte der Stadtverfassung von Italien. Leipzig, 1847. 
Lanzani. Storia dei communi italiani dalle origini al 1313. Milan, 

1881. 
Leo. Geschichte von Italien. Hamburg, 1829. 
Niesen. Italische Erdkunde. 

Von Raumer. Geschichte der Hohenstaufen. Leipzig, 1840. 
Salzer. Ueber die Anfange der Signorie in Oberitalien. Berlin, 1900. 
Sismondi. Histoire des Republiques italiennes. Paris, 1840. 
Symonds. The Renaissance in Italy. London, 1898. 
Tout. The Empire and the Papacy. London, 1878. 
Villari. Le Invasioni barbariche in Italia. Milan, 1901. 

„ I Primi due Secoli della Storia di Firenze. Florence, 1893. 
Street, Brick and Marble in the Middle Ages. London, 1874. 



17 



CHAPTER I 

WHAT LOMBARDY IS, AND HOW MUCH 

The Lombards were the last of the Germanic tribes 
who effected a settlement within the limits of the Roman 
Empire. They selected the Italian peninsula itself for 
attack, and pushed their conquests far and wide through 
the land, until their dominions stretched from the Alps 
to those lands in the south once known as Apulia and 
Lucania. But, as they entered Italy from the north, the 
first object of their attack was the fertile plain watered by 
the Po. There they established the seat of their govern- 
ment, there they settled down most thickly on the 
conquered soil, and there they have left until our own 
day the impress of their name. 

Lombardy, then, in the earliest sense of the word, 
comprised the whole territory bounded by the Alps, the 
Apennines and the sea, with the exception of those 
portions which still remained subject to the Emperors 
who reigned at Constantinople. Subsequent political 
changes have altered the extent of territory to which 
the name has been applied. On the west, the name 
Pedemonte, or Piedmont, at first given to the districts 
lying close to the foot of the Alps, has, with the growth 
of the power of the House of Savoy, gradually extended 
its signification, until it came to be applied to the whole 
country as far east as the Ticino and the Scrivia. The 
north-eastern corner of the peninsula, detached for a 
time from Italy, and added to the German kingdom as a 
" Mark " or frontier province, received from this circum- 
stance the name of Veronese or Trevisan Mark. This 
district, bounded by the Mincio and the Po, corre- 

19 



20 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

sponded roughly with the territory occupied by the 
ancient people of the Veneti. When in the fifteenth 
century the city of Venice brought it under her sway it 
was natural that the old name Venetia should be revived 
and applied to all this region. South of the Po the 
great Roman road, the Via Emilia, had given in 
ancient times its name to the district it traversed. This 
name persisted under the form Emiha, and as the lands 
south of the Po became politically detached from those 
lying north of the river, we find the name of Emilia 
given to the states ruled by the Dukes of Parma and of 
Modena. 

In our own day, then, Lombardy designates the land 
lying between the rivers Ticino, Po, and Mincio. But 
for the student of the history of medieval Italy 

"The waveless plain of Lombardy, 
Bounded by the vaporous air, 
Islanded by cities fair," 

is most conveniently taken as including the whole space 
between Alps and Apennines watered by the Po and its 
tributaries. 

It is the history of the city life of this region, the 
rise of republican institutions in the face of the feudal 
system which prevailed in Western Europe, the contests 
which resulted between the two opposing principles, the 
conflicts between city and city, and the final extinction 
of freedom at the hands of tyrants, themselves, for the 
most part, the offspring of republican institutions, that 
I wish to trace in these pages. 

The central physical feature of the regions with which 
I am about to deal is the great River Po, which, flowing 
nearly due east from its source under Monte Viso to the 
many mouths by which its waters mingle with those of 
the Adriatic Sea, during its course of over four hundred 
miles, forms, as it were, a great central artery running 
through the plain between the Alps and the Apennines, 
and affording an easy means of communication from the 
sea to Casale in Montferrat. 



WHAT LOMBARDY IS, AND HOW MUCH 21 

The whole level space between the two mountain 
ranges seems once to have been a gulf of the Adriatic. 
Only the chain of the Cottian Alps connected Italy 
with the rest of Europe. The streams flowing from the 
mountains and bringing with them masses of detritus, 
in the course of ages silted up this gulf, until they 
finally produced an alluvial plain intersected from north 
to south by numerous rivers flowing from the Alps or 
the Apennines, which unite to form one main channel, 
the Po. 

The Alps, as is natural from their greater mass, supplied 
the larger portion of the material of the newly formed 
land. Hence we find that the lowest point of the de- 
pression between the two ranges, that, namely, through 
which the Po takes its course, is much nearer to the 
Apennines than to the Alps. It is, in fact, only in the 
neighbourhood of Parma that the plain begins to extend 
to any considerable distance south of the river. 

This plain, level as it seems when viewed from a 
church tower, or from the outlying spurs of the moun- 
tains, shows, on a closer view, a certain variety of eleva- 
tion. Besides the moraines, which mark the former 
limits of Alpine glaciers, and which sometimes attain 
the height of a thousand feet, there are several isolated 
groups of hills, rising like islands above the surrounding 
levels. The chief of these, the hills of Asti and Mont- 
ferrat, divide the broad valley in which Turin lies from 
the rest of the plain, and cause the course of the Po 
to deviate considerably to the north-east. These hills 
rise to a height of more than two thousand feet, and are 
separated from the main chain of the Apennines by the 
valley of the Tanaro. 

Another isolated group, the Monti Euganei, lies south 
of Padua, and rises to the height of 1,890 feet. These 
hills, with the Monti Berici, near Vicenza, and the 
ranges which run between this city and Verona, give 
to a large part of the north-eastern corner of the penin- 
sula, the former Trevisan Mark, a hilly character which 
is of importance for the history of the district during the 
Middle Ages. 



22 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

Besides these isolated groups, the Alps, and to a less 
degree the Apennines, send out foothills of lesser or 
greater elevation. We have, therefore, in addition to 
the Lombard plain strictly so called, a considerable tract 
of hill country in which several important towns are 
situated. 

The great lakes which are found in this hill country 
along the foot of the Alps have but small importance 
for our history. On the other hand, the rivers which 
flow from them, or which issue direct from the valleys 
into the plain, have always, either as natural boundaries 
between state and state, or as means of defence against 
an enemy, played a great part in the story of Lombardy. 

They are almost all tributaries of the great central 
artery, the Po. Of those in the extreme east which 
flow direct into the Adriatic, some such as the Reno 
and Adige, have either at one time flowed into the 
Po, or are closely connected with it by side branches 
and canals. The chief of these rivers are, from west 
to east, the Dora Baltea, Sesia, Ticino, Adda, Oglio, 
Mincio, and Adige on the north, and the Tanaro, 
Trebbia, Taro, Panaro, and Reno on the south of the 
main river. To the north-east the Brenta and the Piave 
make their way through many mouths into the Venetian 
lagoons, and the Isonzo, flowing into the head of the 
Adriatic Sea, divides the purely Latin lands from those 
in which the Slavonian element begins to prevail. 
f In the earliest ages in which we hear of this region 
the uncertain glimpses which history gives us of it show 
it as already the seat of many great cities. In the centre 
Etruscan civilisation flourished, and a league of twelve 
cities, of which Felsina, the later Bologna, and Mantua 
were the chief, ruled from the Apennines to the lakes. 
Already Padua rose among its waters, the refuge, so 
men said, of Trojan Antenor, and the Veneti, a people 
of uncertain origin, held the country where the Euganean 
hills looked over the marsh lands round the mouths of 
Brenta and Adige. 

Then came a wave of Celtic invaders from across the 
Alps. The Veneti held their ground against them ; but 



WHAT LOMBARDY IS, AND HOW MUCH 23 

the Etruscan League, with its civilisation and the cities 
which were its seat, disappeared, scarcely leaving more 
than a dim tradition to mark its existence. 

When next we obtain a sight of the valley of the Po 
it is for the most part a Celtic land, the home of a 
warlike race, pastoral rather than agricultural, dwelling 
but little in cities, whose territory, covered with dense 
forests and tracts of marsh land, seemed cold and savage 
to the dwellers to the south of the Apennines. 

Next came the Roman, who secured his hold of the 
land by building walled towns, opening up great roads, 
and establishing a Roman population in the midst of the 
newly-conquered Gauls. 

To the period of the Roman conquest belongs the 
foundation of many great cities. Etruscan Felsina rose 
again as Bononia ; Mutina, Cremona, Placentia ; later 
on Parma, Regium, Dertona, Hasta, and many others 
were built to serve as bulwarks of the new Power. The 
centres of the Gallic tribes, Mediolanum, Comum, Per- 
gamum, Brixia, grew from collections of wooden houses 
to fenced cities of brick and stone. Mantua, a survival 
apparently of the Etruscan power, received new life ; 
wealthy Patavium and the other towns of the Veneti 
welcomed the conquerors from the Tiber as friends and 
kinsmen. The forests disappeared, the swamps were 
drained, a multitude of cities sprang up amid rich corn- 
fields and vineyards; and when the rest of Italy, exhausted 
by war and by the disappearance of the smaller land- 
owners, was ceasing to be a nurse of men, and was fast 
becoming a land of pastures and pleasure grounds, the 
valley of the Po was in all the vigour of a new life. 

One of the characteristic features of the north of Italy 
at the present day is the density of its population and the 
number of cities it contains. As most of these centres 
of population were already in existence in the days of the 
later Roman Empire, and as the history of Lombardy 
is before all a history of separate city-states, it will be well 
here to enumerate the chief. 

Their geographical position, too, is important ; their 
history has often differed according as they lie in the 



24 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

level plain, or are set on hills, or nestle in mountain 
valleys. They may, therefore, be conveniently grouped 
into classes, as cities of the plain, the hill, or the 
mountain. 

Beginning with the first and most important class, 
we find on the west, and to the north of the Po, Vercelli 
on its river, the Sesia, which descends from the spurs 
of Monte Rosa. About fourteen miles to the north-east 
is Novara, the territory of which in later days ran up by 
the Lake of Orta to end below the Simplon range. 
Thirty miles due east brings us to Milan — Mediolanum, 
the "Middle City " ^ — the old capital of the Insubrian 
Gauls, later on the seat of Emperors of the West, at the 
time when Roman strength, though fading fast, was still 
able to offer a stout resistance to the barbarians, through- 
out the Middle Ages the political, as it is now the intellec- 
tual and commercial, centre of North Italy. 

Its rival Pavia, the champion of the Ghibellines, lies 
only twenty-two miles south of Milan, on the Ticino, not 
far from its junction with the Po. Some eighteen miles 
from Pavia, and twenty miles to the south-east of Milan, 
is Lodi, whose name, but not whose site, brings us back 
to the old Laus Pompeia which fell a victim in the year 
nil to the enmity of Milan. 

Beyond the Adda is Crema, a colony from Cremona ; 
and about twenty miles to the south-east we come to the 
latter city, which lies on the Po, and was once the ruler 
of the district between that river and the Oglio. 

East of Cremona, and distant forty miles from it, lies 
Mantua, surrounded by the waters of the Mincio, which 
here expands into lagoons. 

" Here wanton Mincius winds along the meads, 
And shades his happy banks with bending reeds." 

Still proceeding eastwards, we come to where " many- 
domed Padua proud " stands among the winding streams 
of Brenta and Bacchiglione. 

This portion of Italy is broken by isolated hills. 

' Cf. Midh in Ireland. 



WHAT LOMBARDY IS, AND HOW MUCH 25 

Verona on the rushing Adige, Vicenza, thirty miles east 
at the foot of the Monti Berici, and the small town of 
Este at the foot of the southernmost peak of the Colli 
Euganei, serve as a transition to the second class of 
cities, those of the hills ; for, though not precisely hill 
towns, much of their territory is hilly if not actually 
mountainous, a fact which has had considerable 
influence on their history. 

Still farther to the east is Treviso, which closes our 
enumeration of the cities of the plain north of the Po ; 
for Udine and Aquileia scarcely come into the tale of 
the Lombard cities ; and although Venice does so come 
in, yet she must stand alone, separate from all other 
communities as the city of the sea. 

South of the Po, amidst the many streams into which 
the great river breaks up before seeking its rest in 
the Adriatic is Ferrara — " La gran donna del Po " — 
about forty-seven miles south of Padua. Bologna, 
south-west of Ferrara, though in the plain, lies near to 
the range of the Apennines, to the summit of which 
its territory extended. ^ Modena, twenty-three miles to 
the north-west, Reggio, Parma, and Piacenza, all lying 
along the great Roman highway the Via Emilia, while 
themselves cities of the plain, ruled over a large extent 
of mountainous country. Finally, Alessandria, youngest 
of all these cities, built by the Lombard League in 1168 
to command the passes between Genoa and Piedmont 
and Lombardy, and to hold in check the feudal lords 
of Liguria and Montferrat, closes our survey of this 
group. 

Passing now to the second group, those towns which 
are either themselves built on heights, or which lie in 
midst of hilly districts, we have first those situated round 

' Ferrara was not founded until 1604 A.D., and was an outpost of 
the Exarchate of Ravenna against the Lombards. Strictly speaking 
it and Bologna are in Romagna, the portion of the Roman province 
of -.Emilia which was not conquered by the Lombards. The two 
cities are so closely connected with the rest of the Lombard cities 
that for convenience they may be included among their number. 
The main stream of the Po no longer flows by Ferrara. 



26 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

the upper waters of the Po and its affluents in the 
modern Piedmont. 

Turin, nowadays the most important of these, never 
played a very important part in the Middle Ages, a fact 
to be explained, no doubt, by the power of the feudal 
lords of the Houses of Savoy and Montferrat, who held 
the hill country in the neighbourhood, and to one or the 
other of whom it was generally subject. The city itself 
lies in the plain beside the Po, but close by, on the 
opposite side of the river, the hills of the Montferrat 
range rise abruptly. 

Chieri, near Turin, now quite a small town, was in the 
Middle Ages much more important than its neighbour. 
It hes among the hills of Montferrat. Chierasco and Alba 
on the Tanaro, Acqui on the Bormida, Asti on the 
southern edge of the Montferrat range, Tortona and 
Bobbio farther east, are all in the hill country. With the 
one exception of Asti, none of them ever attained to 
much importance, or to any long-continued independence 
from outside control. 

Separated from this group by the width of the Lombard 
plain are Bergamo, situated on a hill at a height of 1,245 
feet above the sea, and some thirty miles north-east of 
Milan, and Brescia, another thirty miles to the east of 
this, both where the foothills of the Alps sink down 
into the plain. Their territories in the Middle Ages ran 
up to the ridges of the High Alps which separate the 
Italians from the German-speaking peoples. 

Here, too, we must name Como, itself built on a piece 
of level ground on the shores of its lake, but surrounded 
on all sides by steep hills, which, with semi-Alpine 
valleys between them, extend over almost the whole 
district subject to the city. 

To the east, in the Trevisan Mark, we have only the 
already mentioned Verona and Vicenza in this class. 

The cities lying well in among the mountains are but 
few in number and small in importance. Aosta and 
Ivrea, in the valley of the Doria Baltea under the 
shadows of Monte Rosa and Mont Blanc ; Susa, in the 
deep valley leading up to the Mont Cenis ; Trent, among 



WHAT LOMBARDY IS, AND HOW MUCH 27 

the mountains of South Tyrol ; Feltre and Belluno, on 
the upper waters of the Piave, are all that need be 
mentioned in this group. 

The cities mentioned in the above sketch of the 
geography of the basin of the Po are all that are of 
importance for the medieval history of the district. 
With places such as Concordia, Altinum, or Aquileia, 
once great and flourishing, but which had either perished 
utterly or sunk into obscurity under the successive 
waves of barbarian invasions, the historian of the 
Lombard cities has no concern. 

There are, however, some names of places lying 
beyond the watershed of the Po which may be added 
here, to make our list of city-states complete. The 
history of Genoa is at times closely bound up with that 
of Milan ; and neither geographical limits nor the events 
of history mark Bologna off from Imola and the other 
towns of Romagna, nor Ferrara from Ravenna, the town 
defined for all time by Dante as the spot where Po 
descends 

" Per aver pace coi seguaci sui." ' 

The subsequent pages will show the importance of a 
clear conception of the geography of Lombardy. Here 
may be pointed out the short distances from city to city, 
tending inevitably to intensify hostile feelings, and the 
differences in situation leading to a difference in the 
political life of each. The cities in the plain were on 
the whole the wealthiest and the most democratic. The 
hill cities were never able thoroughly to break the power 
of the feudal aristocracy whose rock-perched castles 
studded all their territories. Those of Piedmont could 
never make head against the great feudal princes whose 
territories of mountain and valley hemmed them in on 
every side. Finally, the small mountain communities, 
poor and cut off by natural obstacles from all expansion, 
lived a life apart, except in so far as they followed the 
fortunes of some more powerful neighbour. 

' " With all its followers in search of peace " (" Inferno "). 



CHAPTER II 

THE RULE OF THE BISHOPS 

The basin of the Po would seem to have been, during 
the later days of the Roman Empire, the most flourishing 
portion of the Italian peninsula. During the Republic 
it had been to a certain extent a new land, offering a 
virgin soil to the settler, and to the cities which he 
founded a power of rapid growth, something like that 
which we now associate with the western states of 
America. In other parts of Italy already, in the time 
of Cicero and even earlier, large estates had eaten up 
the small proprietors. But this does not seem to have 
been the case in Cisalpine Gaul. The Roman conquest 
had meant in many provinces, notably in Samnium, the 
uprooting from the soil of the previous inhabitants ; and 
although Roman colonists were sent to secure the con- 
quered districts, their numbers do not seem to have been 
great enough to fill the gaps in the ranks of the land- 
owning population caused by war and confiscation. 
Hence most of the land in South and Central Italy fell 
into the hands of a few great senatorial families, who 
cultivated their estates by slave labour, to the ruin and 
gradual extinction of the small proprietor. 

North of the Apennines, however, the procedure of 
the conquerors was different. The gaps caused by war 
among the natives were filled by the settlement in the 
conquered districts of a vast number of small proprietors. 
The surviving natives were left in possession of a sufficient 
share of land. This was more especially the case in the 
lands south of the Po, occupied by the Senones and Boii. 
In the case of the Boii half of their lands were distributed 

28 



THE RULE OF THE BISHOPS 29 

to Roman colonists in 197 B.C., the other half was divided 
up amongst those of the former inhabitants who had 
escaped the sword. It is said that the limits of the farms 
allotted to the new colonists, of which the average 
extent was four or five acres, can be distinctly traced at 
the present day in the neighbourhood of some of the 
Emilian towns ; and especially between Bologna and 
Cesena in Romagna.^ 

North of the Po there was but little displacement of 
the original inhabitants. The Insubres, in the great 
plain round Milan, kept their lands ; the Cenomani, to 
the east of them, had fought on the Roman side, and 
so secured themselves from all molestation. These 
Celtic tribes were largely a pastoral people ; their country 
was thinly peopled, covered with forests and marshes, 
and therefore offered great tracts of unoccupied land 
available for new settlers. That there were plenty of 
such, attracted by the fertility of the virgin soil, is shown 
by the rapidity with which the Celts adopted the Latin 
speech and civilisation. 

In the land of the Veneti there was no conquest. 
The natives submitted peacefully to the protecting power 
of Rome. Here, with increased security, prosperity 
rapidly increased. Patavium, in the days of Strabo, was, 
after Rome, the richest town in Italy ; and, although 
it may be doubted whether the 120,000 men capable 
of bearing arms ascribed to it by this writer should not 
be taken to refer in reality to the whole levy of the 
Veneti, yet this estimate shows the ideas that prevailed 
as to its wealth and resources. The foundation in 
B.C. 181 of Aquileia, with its 4,500 colonist families, must 
have still further increased the prosperity of this part 
of Italy. 

Moreover, Cisalpine Gaul escaped on the whole from 
the disasters that befel Samnium, Etruria, and parts of 
Latium during the wars of Marius and Sylla.^ It is true 

' Bologna, Cremona, and Piacenza being " Latin " colonies, the 
colonists received much larger allotments, about thirty acres each. 
Parma and Modena were colonies of Roman citizens. 

^ Bleloch (" Bevolkerung der griechishen-romischen Welt ") esti- 



30 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

that the province had its share of trouble during the 
conflicts that followed on the death of Caesar ; but the 
misfortunes of Cremona and its unlucky neighbour 
Mantua were more felt by individuals than by the cities 
themselves. While Samnium was left a desert, and the 
six thousand armed burghers of Praeneste were replaced 
by a handful of absentee landholders, in the valley of 
the Po little seems to have happened save that in some 
parts a change took place in the ownership of landed 
property, without any appreciable diminution of the 
number of inhabitants or of holdings. 

One fact is clear, the survival in this part of Italy of 
a large free population, long after the growth of large 
estates cultivated by slaves had diminished the number 
of freemen in the other districts of the peninsula. We 
learn from Pliny that, in loo A.D., the landlords of 
Cisalpine Gaul still worked with free labour. And on 
the whole we may consider the condition of the whole 
basin of the Po in 400 a.d. as one of extreme prosperity ; 
at any rate, compared with the state of the rest of Italy.i 
It was looked on as one of the most important portions 
of the Empire. The excellent strategic position of 
Milan marked it out as the most suitable residence of 
the Emperors, who strove to hold in check the ever- 
increasing hosts of the barbarians ; and from 302 until 
401, in which year Honorius abandoned it for the safer 
residence of Ravenna, it may be looked on as for all 
practical purposes the capital of the Western Empire, 
of which, after Rome and Carthage, it was then the 
wealthiest and most populous city. 

It will be useful here to take a short survey of the 
government of the valley of the Po as it was about 
the year a.d. 400, before the floodgates of the barbarian 
invasions had been loosed on Italy. 

mates the population of Italy under Augustus at about Sk millions, 
of whom about one-third were to be found north of the Apennines 
(quoted by Salvioli, " Stato e Popolazione dell' Italia prima e dopo 
le Invasioni barbariche," p. 10). 

' But see Salvioli, p. 13, for a contrary view. Yet he admits that 
Cisalpine Gaul was ia a better condition than the rest of Italy. 



THE RULE OF THE BISHOPS 31 

In the rearrangement of the provinces of the Empire 
effected by Diocletian and Constantine the older divisions 
of Liguria, Cisalpine Gaul, and Venetia had been super- 
seded by a new grouping. There was a province called 
Liguria, which included not only the old territory of that 
name, but all the valley of the Po as far as the Adda on 
the north, and Piacenza on the south of that river. Milan 
was the capital of this province, as well as being, as we 
have said, one of the capitals of the Empire. North of 
the Po, from the Adda to the eastern limits of Istria, was 
the province of Venetia and Istria, with Aquileia as its 
capital ; and south of the Po from Piacenza to Ariminum 
was known as Emilia. 

As was the common rule throughout the Empire, these 
provinces were divided up into " civitates," that is, an 
urban centre with a dependent district attached to it. 
Each of these had at its head, in accordance with the 
universal Roman practice, two chief magistrates, called 
Duumviri, and a senate, called the Curia. Originally 
these municipalities had possessed considerable local 
independence. The centralising tendency of the later 
Empire had, however, greatly curtailed this, and had 
put nearly all power into the hands of the Provincial 
governors. The functions of the decurions, as the 
members of the Curia were called, had been practically 
limited to the collection of the taxes, and to the super- 
vision of the public buildings. For the collection of 
the taxes they were individually responsible. If an 
incursion of barbarians or some natural calamity made 
it impossible for the city to pay the sum at which it 
was assessed, the property of the decurions was seized 
and sold to make up the deficiency. 

As the financial condition of the Empire became 
worse, as invasions became more frequent, the demands 
on the decurions increased. The position from being 
one of honour became an intolerable burden, from 
which there was no escape. All who held a certain 
amount of property were enrolled in the Curia, and 
the dignity became hereditary. Vast numbers of this 
class were reduced to poverty or sold as slaves to satisfy 



32 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

the demands of the Imperial exchequer. Many sought 
to escape by abandoning their property and taking 
refuge in deserted places, or by entering the army or the 
Church. The legislation of the later Emperors is full 
of enactments relating to the forcible bringing back 
of runaway decurions. 

It was chiefly the moderately wealthy landowners who 
were ruined in this fashion. The great land-owning 
families had contrived to make the chief civil and 
military officers of the State hereditary in their families, 
and as holders of the offices were exempt from serving 
in the Curia. 

City life had completely superseded the older Celtic 
tribal life in Cisalpine Gaul. The great landowners 
usually resided within the walls, spending only a portion 
of the year at one or other of the villas on their country 
estates. Part of these estates was cultivated by slaves, 
part was let out to a class called coloni, who make their 
appearance during the later Empire. ^ The colonus 
occupied a portion of land, paying to the owner a fixed 
rent, the amount of which could not be raised. In many 
respects his position was a semi-servile one. He could 
not leave the land on which he was born ; if the estate 
was sold he went with it ; he had scarcely any civil rights. 
His sons were in the same position as himself, and there 
was practically no way by which he could attain his 
freedom. On the other hand, he could not be evicted 
from his holding. His position, in fact, closely re- 
sembled that of the medieval serf. 

No doubt, even at the opening of the fifth century, 
there were many small free proprietors in Cisalpine Gaul, 
some dwelling here and there in the country districts, 
but most of them inhabiting the towns. But here, as 
elsewhere, the tendency was for the estates of the great 
senatorial families to absorb those of the lesser proprietors. 
Finally, within the walls were many landless freemen, 

' We first hear of them about the time of Constantine. The 
question of their origin— whether they sprang from slaves who had 
risen, or freemen who had descended in the social scale— has given 
rise to much discussion. 



THE RULE OF THE BISHOPS 33 

some engaged in trade or manufactures, others a mere 
hungry mob subsisting, like the lower orders at Rome, 
on the charity of the state. 

We have not to concern ourselves here v^rith the 
elaborate hierarchy of Imperial officials. We must note, 
however, that the Church had adapted herself to the 
Roman municipal institutions. The diocese of the 
Bishop coincided with the civitas over which the 
municipality ruled. The later Emperors had given the 
Bishops a certain amount of civil authority. Under 
the title of defensor it was the duty of the Bishop to 
report on any oppressive acts of the governors or tax- 
collectors. This recognised official status of the Bishops 
is not without importance in the later history of the 
cities. 

Then came the great flood of the barbarian invasions. 
The hosts of Alaric and Rhadag^sus swept over the 
open country without much injury to the fenced cities ; 
but it was otherwise with the Tartar hordes led by Attila. 
The Scourge of God levelled Aquileia to the earth, and 
drove the inhabitants of Concordia, Altinum, and Pata- 
vium to seek refuge among the lagoons of the Venetian 
sea-coast. I In the cities farther west the fate of Aquileia 
inspired such terror as to prevent all resistance ; and 
Vicenza, Verona, Brescia, Bergamo, Milan, and Pavia, 
though given up to all the horrors of pillage, were left 
undestroyed, and their inhabitants escaped the sword. 

But even this terrible inroad did not permanently 
injure the prosperity of the valley of the Po. The 
hordes of Attila passed back again beyond the Alps, and 
with renewed peace the losses of the provincials were in 
some measure repaired. One lasting result followed 
from this raid. The fugitives from the ruined cities on 
the Venetian mainland took refuge among the lagoons 
which separate the firm land from the open sea ; and 
from their rude huts grew in the course of ages the 
mighty city of Venice whose fortunes will be so closely 

• Hodgkin, " Italy and her Invaders," vol. ii. p. 153. ". . • Per 
universas Venetiarum urbes. . . . Hunni bacchabantur " (" Historia 
Miscella" in Hodgkin). 

3 



34 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

intermingled with those of the republics of which we are 
studying the history. 

Then, twenty-four years after Attila's invasion, the 
Roman Empire of the West fell, and the insignia of 
Imperial rule were sent to Constantinople; while a 
Herulian chief, Odovacer, was proclaimed king by the 
barbarians, and received the title of "Patrician" from 
the Eastern Emperor, Zeno. 

His brief reign and his overthrow by Theodoric and 
his Ostrogoths need not detain us. The new monarch 
established a wise and firm rule. His residences, Ravenna, 
Pavia, and Verona, as well as his titular capital, Rome, felt 
the effects of his protecting care. At this time Milan was 
still the most important city of the province of Liguria, 
but we see signs of the advancing greatness of its neigh- 
bour Ticinum, better known by its later name, Pavia, as 
the inveterate enemy of its older rival. Its strong position 
sheltered as it was by two rivers, the Ticino and the Po, 
caused Theodoric to select it as a place of safety wherein 
to leave his mother and the other non-combatants of the 
Gothic host (490 A.D.).i When he had established his 
rule in the peninsula he built there a palace and public 
baths, and it is probably to him that the city owed the 
strong fortifications which made it in after years the 
last refuge of the Gothic name in Italy. 

The losses sustained by the provincials during the 
strife between Theodoric and Odovacer were amply 
made good during the settled years of the former's reign. 
It is from the troublous times which followed on his 
death, the re-conquest of Italy for the Eastern Empire 
by the arms of Belisarius and Narses, and then the 
descent, after a brief interval of rest, of a new and formid- 
able invader, the Lombards, that we may date the down- 
fall of the ancient social system of the peninsula. 

The war between Goths and Byzantines lasted nearly 
twenty years. 2 During its course the Italians suffered 
untold miseries. Milan was rased to the ground by the 
Goths, and its male inhabitants put to the sword, to the 

' Hodgkin, vol. iii. pp. 220, 221. » 536-555 A.D. 




Tomb of Theodoric, Ravenna, 



To face page 34. 



THE RULE OF THE BISHOPS 35 

number, if we may believe Procopius, of three hundred 
thousand. This figure, though no doubt entirely too 
great for credibility, gives us some idea of the impression 
made on Procopius by the population and importance 
of the city. 

The invasion, in 568, of the Lombards, the race who 
have left their name to the part of Italy with which we 
are concerned, is important as marking the beginning of 
those political divisions of the peninsula to which an end 
has been put only in our own day. Unlike the Ostrogoths, 
they did not make a thorough conquest of the land, and 
even in those provinces in which they most firmly 
established their power isolated cities were left which 
still maintained their allegiance to the Empire. Thus the 
island in the lake of Como, the Isola Comacina, held 
out against the invaders until 588. Piacenza and Cre- 
mona, aided no doubt by their position on the Po, which 
afforded a passage to the war vessels of the Empire, were 
not added to the Lombard dominions until 601-603, 
long after the surrounding country had been subdued. 
Ravenna and its Exarchate, which included Bologna and 
Ferrara, the district along the eastern coast known as 
the Pentapolis, Rome and the surrounding territories, 
as well as maritime Venetia, a great part of the southern 
coast, and isolated cities such as Naples and Amalfi, 
remained entirely free from the new Lombard state.i 
In this way Italy ceased to be one homogeneous country, 
and so here we may fix the beginnings of that political 
disunion and that feeling of particularism which is by 
no means extinct at the present day. 

More important for our history is the fact that some 
cities such as Cremona were isolated for years in the 
midst of their enemies. It is impossible not to believe 
that this circumstance must have led to a rekindling of 
military and municipal spirit and of the power of initiative 
which had been lost under the centralising system of the 
later Empire. We must suppose, too, that, in practice, 

' Liutprand's conquest of Ravenna and other cities only led to 
the Frank invasion and the destruction of the Lombard kingdom. 



36 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

a large amount of political power passed into the hands 
of the citizens, and so we may place here the first begin- 
nings of that municipal independence which will have 
reached its full growth three centuries later.i 

The Lombard realm fell before the power of the 
Franks and their great leader Charlemagne in 774 A.D. 
The new sovereign confirmed to the Popes the possession 
of the territory formerly ruled by the Exarchs of Ravenna, 
which his father, Pepin, had already presented to them 
after he had overthrown the Lombards who had wrested 
this district from the Byzantines. The duchy of Rome, 
as the country from the mouth of the Liris to a point 
near Viterbo was called, had been for about fifty years 
virtually independent under the joint rule of the Popes 
and the Roman people. It was now formally separated 
from the Eastern Empire, and the Pope was recognised, 
if not as the actual sovereign, at least as its practical 
ruler. As if in return for these favours, Pope Leo III., on 
Christmas Day 800 A.D., placed on Charles's head the 
Imperial diadem, and the Roman people acclaimed him 
as Emperor, the legitimate successor of Augustus. 

The former dominions of the Lombards were governed 
by Charles, who assumed the title of King of the Lom- 
bards, as a kingdom separate from his territories north of 
the Alps. In the districts formerly belonging to the 
Greek Emperors he ruled as Patrician and Emperor of 
the Romans, but delegated his power to the Roman 
pontiffs. It seems quite impossible to determine what 
exactly both he and Pepin meant to confer on the Popes 
by the famous donation of the Exarchate and other terri- 
tories. In later days the Popes based their claim to com- 
plete independence on these donations ; it seems certain, 
however, that Charles and his successors exercised most 
of the rights of sovereignty at least over the city of Rome 
and its neighbourhood. 

' Villari draws attention to the words of Paulus Diaconus, who 
mentions the part taken in a civil war between two Lombard rulers 
by the singulae civitates, and notably by the citizens of Vicenza. 
This was shortly before 700 a.d. (" Le Invasioni barbariche, p. 323. 
See also ibid., p. 327). 




Charlemagne. 
(From the painting by Diirer.) 



THE RULE OF THE BISHOPS, 37 

The powerful Lombard duchy of Beneventum in the 
south, and the isolated Greek possessions round the coast 
of what in later times became the kingdom of Naples, 
together with the lagoons of Venetia, were the only 
portions of the peninsula not brought under the rule of 
the Prankish monarch. 

The subsequent fate of the Carlovingian dynasty, the 
endless partitions and re-partitions, the attempts, all use- 
less, to set up a separate Italian kingdom under a native 
sovereign, need not detain us. The interval from the 
death of Charles the Great in 814 to the accession of 
Otho L of Saxony in 962 is a dreary space filled with 
revolution and counter-revolution, mingled with the worse 
scourge of Hungarian and Saracen invasion. Yet all 
through this period, so hopelessly black to all outward 
seeming, a silent change was taking place, The germs 
were being matured which were destined to blossom 
forth into full life at the opening of the twelfth century. 

At the end of this period we meet with a transformed 
people. Instead of the degenerate provincials of the 
fifth and sixth centuries, unwarlike, corrupted by luxury, 
lost to all sense of liberty, ministered to by vast multitudes 
of slaves, we find a hardy race of men, trained to arms, 
liberty loving, full of energy. The infusion of Teutonic 
blood had given new life to the Peninsula. New ideals 
inspired men's minds. Social conditions had entirely 
altered. Slavery in the Roman sense was almost dead. 
The mass of the population was not, indeed, free ; but 
the serf who had replaced the slave had at least some 
rights, and there were many degrees of serfdom, some of 
which approached nearly to full personal freedom. A 
new form of speech, too, the development of the Latin 
spoken by the uneducated masses of the people, was 
beginning to assume a regular shape and to take rank as 
a recognised language. 

All these changes had been the result of the six 
centuries of constant warfare which had followed on the 
year 400. They had almost entirely altered the whole 
state of society and destroyed the fabric of Roman 
civilisation. In its stead we find the beginnings of the 



38 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

modern world. The most important features of the 
change from the old to the new can be briefly stated. 

During these centuries of war the Roman system of 
administration had disappeared. Entire cities had been 
blotted out ; in others the population had dwindled more 
and more ; the country districts were almost uninhabited ; 
vast forests and tracts of uncultivated marsh land had 
replaced the cultivated fields of former ages. As law 
and order vanished men were forced to depend for their 
safety on their own strength. 

The surviving free population of Roman origin was 
concentrated within the shelter of the cities. The 
country parts were left to serfs ruled over by lords for 
the most part of Germanic origin. It was this infusion 
of a Teutonic stock which above all awoke the Italian 
peninsula to new life and vigour. 

Odovacer, in common with the other barbarian leaders 
who had settled in the Empire, had provided for his 
followers by dividing amongst them a proportion of the 
land, or rather of the revenue arising from it ; it is said a 
third part. Theodoric, in his turn, distributed among 
the Goths the lands before held by Odovacer's supporters, 
as well, doubtless, as those which the ravages of war had 
left without Roman proprietors. 

The Lombards, who seem in political matters to have 
treated the Italians with far more harshness than the 
previous conquerors had done, followed their precedent 
when dealing with the land. Many wealthy nobles were 
slain and their property transferred to Lombards ; the 
remaining proprietors were divided among Lombards to 
whom the name " guests " was given. ^ The " guest " 
received one-third of the revenue of the land, and it 
would seem that in course of time this was altered to 
one-third of the land itself, so that the original owner 
now held two-thirds of his former estate, the Lombard 
" guest " one-third. 

The number of Roman landowners would naturally tend 

' See Villari," Le Invasion! barbarichein Italia, ' p. 271-274, where 
he discusses the relations of Lombards and Romans. 



THE RULE OF THE BISHOPS 39 

to diminish, for many would emigrate to the portions of 
the peninsula still subject to the Byzantine rule, or be- 
yond the sea. The Prankish rulers made large grants of 
unoccupied or confiscated land to their followers, the 
Saxon Emperors followed the same plan. In the course 
of time, then, the greater part of the landed property 
passed into the hands of men of German origin, so that 
at a later date the name Lombards or Teutons is con- 
stantly used to denote the proprietors of the country 
districts. ^ Any Roman proprietors who remained would 
gradually adopt the mode of life and the ideas of the 
German landowners.^ 

In short, in the country districts, there arose a land- 
owning, warlike class ruling over a subject population, 
the descendants of the coloni of the late Imperial 
times, or of the few Roman freemen who had not 
abandoned the country for the cities. 

Within these latter, on the other hand, the Roman 
element continued to predominate. The Germanic 
invaders on the whole preferred country life, and though 
many of them, of the Lombards especially, did take up 
their residence in the urban centres, it would seem that 
the majority settled themselves on the lands of which 
they had become proprietors. In this way the semi- 
deserted rural districts received new inhabitants ; in this 
way, too, the immense estates which in the late Imperial 
times were characteristic of Italy, though, as we have seen, 
to a less degree in the Po valley than elsewhere, were sub- 
divided among new owners. 

It is the opinion of Villari that the Lombards, while 
depriving the subject Roman population of all political 
power, did not entirely abolish the old municipal organi- 
sation. This also continued to survive in the districts 
under Byzantine rule. Especially did the late Roman 
institution of scholae, or trade guilds in which were 
enrolled all the citizens who exercised manual trades, 

' Teutonic!. See Salvioli, p. 68. 

=" So in Ireland the Celtic or Anglo-Norman landlords who, by 
adopting Protestantism, preserved their lands, became completely 
identified with the new English proprietors. 



40 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

persist, though obscurely, to reappear at a later date as 
one of the most important features of the new municipal 
life. 

Political power, on the other hand, was centralised in 
the hands of the King and his delegates. The Lombards 
set up in each important centre a Duke, who ruled over 
one or more cities and their dependent territories. 

As in Roman times, the civitas formed the unit of 
administration. This comprised not only the walled 
town — the city in the modern sense — but also the 
country district — the ager dependent on it. In 
Central Italy, where from the remotest times the popu- 
lation had lived in walled towns, this dependent district 
was not of very great extent. In Cisalpine Gaul, 
colonised at a comparatively late period, and where the 
urban centres were mostly of Roman origin, the extent 
of territory included in the civitas was often — as in the 
cases of Pavia, Brescia, Parma, and Piacenza — very 
considerable, a fact that explains the great power to 
which the cities of Lombardy at once attained, when 
they began to act as independent commonwealths. 

The Prankish rulers did not make any very material 
changes in the Lombard institutions. Instead of the 
Dukes they placed Counts with less extended powers, 
and as a rule having only one city subject to them. 
Side by side with the Count stood the Bishop ; still 
largely chosen by popular election, and charged with the 
duty of safeguarding the rights of the people from 
possible encroachment by the Count. 

In the troubled times of the downfall of the Empire the 
Bishops had acquired immense landed possessions, either 
through gifts from the monarchs wishing to obtain the 
support of the Church, or from private individuals 
anxious to benefit their souls, or from the voluntary 
surrender of their property by the poorer freemen, who 
in time of trouble found their position as tenants of 
the Church infinitely preferable to*the risks they as 
freemen ran of oppression and spoliation on the part 
of grasping nobles. In this way the Bishops joined to 
the prestige arising from their ecclesiastical dignity that 



THE RULE OF THE BISHOPS 41 

which sprang from their being the largest landowners 
in the diocese. 

As the territory subject to the Count, the county as 
it began to be called, coincided on the whole with the 
ancient Roman civitas, so, too, it coincided with the 
diocese which had also been originally marked out 
by the same limits. Occasionally this was not the case. 
The later Carlovingian monarchs often subdivided the 
larger counties, and so we find that several were included 
in the large dioceses of Milan and Pavia. So, too, 
the limits of the county were sometimes modified from 
those of the former civitas. These discrepancies became 
a fruitful source of conflict in later times. When the 
chief power in the cities had passed from the Counts to 
the Bishops, and then to the hands of the burghers them- 
selves, both Bishops and burghers endeavoured to bring 
the whole diocese under their temporal rule, including 
those portions which now formed part of another county. 
The long hostility between Modena and Bologna, to 
mention one striking instance, arose from the conflicting 
boundaries of county and diocese. ^ 

To secure the frontiers of the kingdom Charles 
grouped several counties under a Markgraf, or Count 
of the Marches, our English marquis. So arose the 
powerful Markgrafs of Ivrea, supervising the passes 
between France and Italy, and those of Friuli, whose 
duty it was to protect the north-eastern angle of the 
peninsula against foreign invasion. Over the whole 
kingdom he maintained a constant supervision by means 
of itinerant officials, the missi dominici, royal messengers, 
whose duty it was to report on the administration and 
set right all abuses. 

All this centralised system of administration perished 
in the wreck of the Carlovingian Empire. The Counts 
succeeded in turning into private possessions the Crown 
domains which had formerly been granted to them to 
enable them to support the dignity of their office. Then 

' So, too, arose the quarrels between Florence and Siena, and 
Siena and Arezzo. 



42 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

they made the office itself hereditary, and even divisible 
among all their children. At the same time the system 
by which the immense domains of the Crown were 
parcelled out as fiefs, to be held by military service, 
came into full vigour. Fiefs, at first mere temporary 
beneficia, became hereditary ; the holders of royal 
fiefs were granted immunity from the jurisdiction of 
the Counts, and were given judicial power over their 
tenants and dependents ; the unity of the county was 
in this way impaired. 
■■% The great allodial proprietors followed the royal 
example, and divided their lands among a number of 
vassals, so as to have at their command a large force 
capable of bearing arms. The small proprietors in 
many cases surrendered their property to a more power- 
ful neighbour or to the Church and received it back 
as a fief, with the guarantee of protection. The Bishops 
and rich abbeys divided their immense domains in the 
same way. In this manner what we know as the feudal 
system was gradually established in Italy. 

The later Carlovingians vainly endeavoured to check 
the increasing independence of the Counts and other 
great lords. The most effectual means which suggested 
itself for this was to transfer the jurisdiction formerly 
possessed by the Count to the Bishop of the city. The 
Prankish kings enjoyed an almost preponderant voice 
in the election of the Bishop ; the latter from the nature 
of his office was likely to be less inclined to rebellion, 
and had besides no descendants to whom to endeavour 
to transmit his office. The new scheme therefore com- 
mended itself at once as a material increase of the royal 
authority. 

This movement by which the Bishops began to acquire 
temporal authority over the city in which they resided 
is of cardinal importance in tracing the rise of republican 
institutions in Lombardy. 

It seems that the earliest examples of such power being 
conferred on a Bishop occur in the closing years of the 
ninth century. ^ The substitution of the Bishops for 
' Modena in 892. 



THE RULE OF THE BISHOPS 43 

the Counts was, however, a very gradual process and 
extended over the whole of the tenth and a considerable 
portion of the eleventh centuries. 

We can distinguish in it three steps. First, all the 
property of the state in the city and immediate vicinity — 
the walls, towers, open spaces, the royal taxes, &c. — was 
granted to the Bishop, with rights of jurisdiction over 
the tenants of the Church. In return the Bishop was 
to provide for the upkeep of the fortifications and of 
the roads and bridges. Grants of this nature are extant 
for quite a number of towns — for example, for Modena 
in 892, Bergamo in 904. 

"""The next step was the entire effacement of the Count 
within the city. So in Parma in 962 the Bishop was 
given all the powers of a Count in the city and for 
three miles round, and wherever else the inhabitants 
of Parma had property. The Bishop of Lodi about the 
same period was given complete jurisdiction over that 
city, and for seven miles round it.^ The immediate 
effect of these two steps in this new and important 
movement — the Revolution of the Bishops, as it has 
been styled — was the separation of the city proper from 
the dependent district included in the Roman civitas. 

The urban centre, and a greater or smaller extent of 
territory round it, was exempted from the power of the 
Count. Over the rest of the old civitas he still remained 
supreme. Hence the word contado, or county, acquired 
in Italian a new meaning ; it came to signify the country 
districts as opposed to the town, and so to this day 
contadmi are the peasants as opposed to the townspeople. 

The authority of the counts, now limited to the country 
parts, was still farther impaired by the fact that the 
possessions of the Church everywhere were exempted 
from their control, and Leo estimates that already in the 
time of Louis the Pious about one-third of the land of 
Italy was owned by the Church. Besides, the large pro- 
prietors had in general received royal " exemptions " 
which practically placed them on an equality with the 
Counts. The later Carlovingians and the kings that 
" See Hegel, vol. ii. pp. 70, for these details. 



44 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

followed them appear to have multiplied counties and 
marquisates; these became hereditary, and were sub- 
divided among all the sons; and so we find that the 
whole history of the tenth century is one of a continual 
decentralisation, the separation of town from country, 
and the splitting up of the latter into an infinity of small 
jurisdictions. 

The third step in the Revolution of the Bishops was 
an attempt at reaction against this. The Bishop's rule 
was extended over the whole diocese, abolishing the 
Count. We find that this occurred in Vercelli in 999, in 
Parma in 1035, in Bergamo in 1041. But this attempt at 
restoring unity came too late. We may suppose that the 
great landowners, now transformed into hereditary Counts 
the Counts now from royal officials become great land- 
lords, were not easily brought under the rule of the 
Bishops. Besides, the authority of the latter was being 
undermined in the towns by the appearance of a new 
factor in politics, the townsmen united in a loose muni- 
cipal organisation, and led by increasing numbers and 
wealth to a new position of influence in the state. 

It was the rul^ of the Bishops that prepared the way 
for municipal independence in Lombardy, and with it 
we have at last reached our true subject — the history of 
these municipalities during the brilliant period of their 
activity and freedom. 

Before treating of the movement by which the towns- 
men won for themselves the powers possessed by the 
Bishop, replacing him as he had previously replaced the 
Count, it will be well to retrace our steps a little, and to 
inquire into the condition of the urban population under 
the Frankish rule. 

Under the later Roman Empire the civilian population 
was in general unarmed and untrained to war. The 
Gothic conquerors seem to have maintained this dis- 
armament of the subject Romans. With the advent of 
the Lombards, however, we find that those cities which 
remained subject to the Emperors of Constantinople were 
forced to rely for their defence very much on their own 
exertions. 



THE RULE OF THE BISHOPS 45 

The town populations were once more trained to arms 
and organised as a permanent militia. Once more we 
hear of the exercitus Romanus as a name equivalent for 
the free population of Rome ; so too we find the militia, 
or exercitus in Ravenna and other places, taking part in 
public affairs. 

We find in Rome and Ravenna in the eighth and ninth 
centuries the free population divided into four classes : 
the clergy, the optimates militiae, the milites or exercitus, 
and finally the cives onesti, or populus. The second class 
would be formed of the families distinguished by birth, 
official rank, and wealth. The milites would include 
the smaller landowners and the merchants, and the 
fourth class would take in those freemen who carried on 
trades or other occupations which did not allow them to 
devote much time to military exercises. We see here a 
foreshadowing of later times and of feudal institutions. 
From the optimates came the great landowning nobles of 
a subsequent epoch. From the exercitus sprang the 
warlike class who, receiving fiefs in return for the 
obligation to military service, formed the minor nobility 
so numerous in Italy. 

These two classes we find in later times distinguished 
from the popolo, the commercial and working classes, 
who did not make warfare their profession. These were 
organised, according to their occupations, in scholae or 
guilds, ruled by officials of their own, who in course of 
time were dignified with the name of consul. 

Finally, below these various classes of freemen, came 
the great mass of the unfree, deprived of many personal 
and all political rights. 

Thus it would seem that the revival of a warlike spirit 
among the Italians, and the beginning of the social 
system which prevailed through the Middle Ages, are to 
be traced first of all in those parts of the peninsula which 
remained, up to the end of the eighth century, subject to 
the Empire. 

In the parts of Italy conquered by the Lombards it is 
probable that the vanquished were at first prohibited from 
using arms. But as in the course of time a gradual fusion 



46 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

of races took place this prohibition would naturally be- 
come obsolete. The Franks imposed the duty of serving 
in time of war on all freemen throughout their empire, 
and so, all over Italy, the free population, once unwarlike 
and unarmed, became once more trained to war. 

With this diffusion of a warlike spirit from the Germans 
to the Provincials, the importance of the town populations 
naturally increased. The distracted state of Italy in the 
early tenth century added to their importance. It has 
been said by some writers that the Lombards, on their 
first invasion, destroyed the fortifications of the greater 
part of the cities they conquered, and forbade their 
restoration. But during the civil wars of the tenth 
century the Hungarians, then a savage race of horsemen, 
the scourge of Christian Europe, broke into the valley 
of the Po, and in the distracted state of the country the 
only refuge from their ravages was behind the walls of 
whatever fortified towns existed. The cities, left to them- 
selves for defence, hastily constructed new walls, or re- 
paired those which, under the Frank rule, had fallen into 
decay ; the kings encouraged the work, and soon every 
town and almost every village was able to offer resistance 
to an enemy. Henceforth the walled cities play a consider- 
able part in the contests between the various competitors 
for the crown. 

So we find the towns once more fortified and filled 
with a population trained to arms, beginning to enjoy, 
under the rule of their Bishops, an existence independent 
of one another, apart from the country districts, and in 
great measure exempt from the direct rule of the sovereign. 

The early Teutonic invaders of the Roman Empire 
were averse to city life, and the bulk of them seem to 
have settled down on the lands which they had acquired 
in the conquered provinces. Of the Lombards, however, 
as we have said already, many settled in the towns as 
garrisons, or in official positions, and it is even possible 
that in some places, such as Pa via, the majority of the 
free population were of German origin. But most writers 
are agreed that the bulk of the urban population was of 
Roman blood. 



THE RULE OF THE BISHOPS 47 

The Frank conquest did away with the distinction 
between cities held by the Byzantines and those under 
the Lombards; differences of race, too, had been very 
largely obliterated by time. With the tenth century we 
find instead of the former national distinctions, the free- 
men distinguished into classes, as milites and cives. The 
former class was composed at first of all those freemen 
distinguished by birth or landed property, then to these 
were added all those who, in return for military service, 
were granted fiefs by the sovereigns, great landowners, 
or the Church. Thus a special class arose whose chief 
business was war, and it is easy to see how the name 
of milites was applied to this class, as also how it came 
in time to take the meaning of our word knight. 

The rest of the free citizens, shopkeepers, workers in 
certain handicrafts looked on as honourable, small land- 
owners, are included under the name cives or arimanni. 
Below these two classes we find again a great mass of 
people in various stages of servitude : serfs of the King, 
or the Church, or of great men. These would form the 
mass of the artisan, farming, and labouring classes, and 
amongst them there were very great differences of 
position ; from those who were not counted as fully free 
simply because they were shut out from various political 
and civil rights, to real serfs bound to the soil with which 
they were bought and sold. 

In the eleventh century we find a further distinction 
among the milites. They are divided into Capitani and 
Valvassores. The former were the great allodial pro- 
prietors, and all those holding fiefs from the King, and 
also from the Archbishops and Bishops. The Church 
was the largest landowner in North Italy, and the Bishops 
had found it necessary, as they gradually acquired politi- 
cal power, to portion out their domains as fiefs, in order 
to have at their call a body of warriors by profession ; 
the vassals of the Bishops formed therefore by far the 
most numerous class. In fact, as the Capitani, or " Cap- 
tains," dwelling in or near the various cities were almost 
all vassals of the Church, and as they figure most largely 
in civic affairs, they are frequently spoken of as all holding 



48 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

under the Bishops. We must remember, however, that 
there were many great lords directly subject to the Kmg. 
The Captains in turn parcelled out their fiefs mto 
smaller portions, also held on condition of military 
service These sub-vassals were known as Valvassors. 
The Optimates and Milites of the former Greek posses- 
sions corresponded to the Captains and Valvassors of 
Lombardy, and in course of time were known by the 
same name. All over North Italy we find by the eleventh 
century the freemen divided into populus or cives on the 
one hand and milites on the other, and the latter again 
subdivided into Captains and Valvassors, who, together 
formed the class known in later days as nobles. 

There was, however, in the Italian cities, at any rate 
at first, no rigid noble caste such as we find in countries 
north of the Alps. Fiefs were freely bestowed on persons 
not of free birth ; and in the time of Frederick Barbarossa 
his aristocratic historian, Otho of Freisingen, is shocked 
at the democratic notions of the Italians in this respect. 
They did not disdain, he says, to admit to the honour of 
knighthood and other dignities the workers at even the 
contemptible mechanic arts, whom other nations exclude 
as one would a pestilence from the more honourable and 
free callings. ^ 

All those who obtained wealth by commerce seem to 
have been freely admitted among the milites ; we have in 
fact a mixed city nobility of birth and wealth who 
formed a real aristocracy constantly recruited from the 
commercial classes. In the eleventh and early twelfth 
centuries, the chief mark of this civic nobihty was that 
its members fought on horseback, while the mass of the 
freemen performed their military service on foot. 

The conditions in the country parts were very different 

and more analogous to those prevailing in the rest of 

\ Europe. The population fell almost entirely into two 

1 classes, the noble landowners and their serfs. There 

1 were of course some freemen not important enough to 

[be counted among the nobles, but they were mostly 

I gathered in groups in the small country towns and 

; ' Otho of Freisingen, cited by Hegel, vol. ii. p. 167. 



THE RULE OF THE BISHOPS 49 

villages. In the open country the poorer freemen had 
almost all been forced to put themselves under the pro- 
tection of some more powerful neighbour, giving up in 
exchange a greater or less portion of their liberty. 

The country nobles corresponded to the same class in 
other parts of Europe. Some were descendants of the 
Carlovingian Counts, others allodial proprietors, with 
noble vassals holding fiefs under them, others held fiefs 
from the King, others again were vassals of the Bishops, 
Captains and Valvassors, whose fiefs lay at a distance 
from the episcopal city. Town and country were thus 
sharply contrasted, a state of things that was soon to lead 
to hostility between them. 

Of course in different cities different conditions pre- 
vailed. In some a very large number of the Captains 
and Valvassors resided in the city. In others this class 
seems to have been small. To take examples from 
Tuscany, Florence in its early days seems to have had 
very few holders of fiefs living within its walls. Its 
territory almost to the walls of the city was all "in- 
castled " with the strongholds of nobles having no 
connection with the city, and so the early history of 
Florence is one of a constant warfare with these nobles ; 
the contado of Florence had to be conquered step by 
step by the townsmen. In Siena, on the other hand, a 
very large number of great landowning families dwelt in 
the city from the earliest times, and so when the Mar- 
quisate of Tuscany fell to pieces on the death of the 
Countess Matilda in 1115, Siena at once appears as the 
mistress of a wide domain. 

It would appear that in Lombardy, where the Bishops 
had obtained such very extensive possessions, and had 
parcelled them out among a number of feudal vassals, 
many of these usually continued to reside in the cities ; 
and hence when the power passed from the Bishops into 
the hands of the leading citizens, the new city republic 
found itself at once without any effort ruling over a very 
large part where not the whole of the diocese. 

To trace the revolution whereby power passed from 
the hands of the Bishops to those of the citizens will be 
the aim of the next chapter. 

4 



/ 



CHAPTER III 

THE RISE OF THE COMMUNES 

We must retrace our steps a little to resume the general 
political history of Italy up to the opening of the eleventh 
century. On the death of Charlemagne his great empire 
began to fall to pieces, and was partitioned and re-parti- 
tioned among his descendants. Seven of these held 
power in turn in Italy. In the various partitions of the 
Carlovingian dominions the peninsula had fallen to the 
prince who bore the Imperial title, and in this way the 
view arose that the crown of the Caesars should be 
born by whoever was crowned with the Iron Crown of 
Lombardy. 

In 887 the Carlovingian Empire finally broke up. 
The crowns of Italy and the Empire were disputed by 
pretenders, great Italian nobles, or the neighbouring 
sovereigns of Burgundy and Provence. Nine com- 
petitors arose and fell in the next sixty years. We have 
seen how among the effects of this confusion was that 
the Bishops increased in power, from the efforts of rival 
claimants to win them over to their side, and that the 
cities were now all fortified, and the citizens becoming of 
weight as a factor to be reckoned with by the contending 
parties. 

Finally, Berengar, Markgraf of Ivrea, the most power- 
ful noble of North Italy, obtained the throne. He wished 
to marry his son and co-regent Adalbert to Adelheid, the 
widow of his predecessor Lothair, whom he was sus- 
pected of having murdered. The young and beautiful 
widow resisted this arrangement, and is said, in conse- 
quence, to have received the severest treatment at the 
hands of her would-be father-in-law. 

50 




Henry IV., Emperor. 




Otho I., Emperor ('The Great"). 



To Jace page 51- 



THE RISE OF THE COMMUNES 51 

She escaped from her confinement in the castle of 
Garda, and fled across the Lombard plain until she found 
shelter in the famous castle of Canossa, in the Apennines 
near Reggio. From here she sent to the German king, 
Otho of Saxony, entreating his aid. He was easily won 
by her message, crossed the Alps, and almost without a 
blow made himself master of Berengar's dominions. 
The latter submitted, and received back his kingdom as 
Otho's vassal. Otho married Adelheid and returned to 
Germany. ^ 

But Berengar's cruelty soon stirred up the Italians 
against him. Otho was again called in, again easily 
subdued the country, and in 962 was crowned king 
of Italy at Milan, and soon afterwards in Rome as 
Emperor.2 

This crowning of Otho of Saxony as Emperor is a fact 
of cardinal importance for the whole history of the 
Middle Ages, only second to the revival of the Western 
Empire by Charlemagne. Henceforth the principle 
obtained that whoever was chosen king by the Germans 
should also receive the Italian crown in Lombardy, and 
be then crowned as Emperor at Rome. 

His son and grandson of the same name succeeded 
Otho I. Powerful in Germany, these princes established 
their authority firmly in Italy. Except for one attempt, 
on the extinction of the Saxon line in 1002, we hear of 
no more efforts to set up a separate Italian kingdom 
under a native king. 

The state of the valley of the Po at the opening of the 
eleventh century, the period to which we have now 
reached, requires some attention. 

Of great lordships there remained only a few of the 
Markgravates originally instituted to defend the frontiers 
of the kingdom. At the north-western angle of the 
peninsula a large part of the Markgravate of Ivrea 
had been granted by Otho I., on the downfall of 

' This was in 951 a.d. 

= Pavia, Milan and Monza, all put forward claims to be the city in 
which the coronation ceremony should be performed. In later days 
the contest lay between Milan and Monza. 



52 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

Berengar, to the Markgrafs of Turin or of Susa, as they 
are sometimes called. These territories were destined to 
pass by marriage in a few years to the progenitors of the 
illustrious House of Savoy, who already held large 
possessions beyond the Alps as well as the county of 
Aosta on the Italian side. Thus commenced the gradual 
progress of this family towards the acquisition of 
territories in Italy which in our day has led them to the 
throne of a united Italian kingdom. 

The territories thus united formed a state commanding 
the chief passes leading towards France, too important to 
be interfered with by the Emperor, and containing, with 
the exception of Turin, Ivrea, and Chieri, no cities likely 
to give trouble by claims of independence. 

The hill country between the upper waters of the Po 
and those of the Tanaro was held by the Markgrafs of 
Montferrat, and south of this the mountainous region 
as far as the sea coast was under various Markgrafs or 
Counts, of which the most important were those of 
Saluzzo and Savona. 

In all this hilly region the towns were small. Asti 
alone was of any importance, and under its Bishop was 
free from feudal control. We find in fact that in that 
part of Italy now known as Piedmont the towns, enclosed 
as they were among hills, never attained to much 
importance, and that the feudal sovereignties here 
maintained their ground against the municipal insti- 
tutions of the rest of the Po valley. 

The north-eastern angle of Italy formed in Carlovingian 
times the Markgravate of Friuli. This corner of the 
Peninsula is the most exposed to a foreign invader, and 
through it had passed most of the barbarian hosts whose 
various invasions we have already mentioned. To the 
east the Pass of the Pear Tree led out to the limits of 
civilisation and Christianity, where Slavs and Magyars 
and more barbarous tribes still filled in a confused 
welter all the lower valley of the Danube. From its 
north-western angle the Brenner opened out a way to 
Germany. This pass, the lowest of all the great roads 
across the Alps, is singularly free from natural 



I 



THE RISE OF THE COMMUNES 53 

difficulties, and has at all times afforded an easy com- 
munication with the valley of the Inn and the upper 
waters of the Danube. But though the road was easy 
the valley through which it runs is at certain points, 
notably at the famous defile, the " Chiuse " of Verona, so 
narrow as to be easily blocked against invaders by a 
handful of resolute defenders. The city of Verona, 
commanding the outlet from this defile, has therefore 
been at all times a place of the utmost strategic 
importance. 

To the new German sovereigns the firm possession of 
this city and the adjoining territory must have been a 
matter of supreme concern. We find, therefore, that the 
first Otho took special measures with regard to this 
district. The Patriarchs of Aquileia had acquired a large 
jurisdiction in that eastern portion to which the name 
Friuli is now limited. The rest of the Mark, with 
Verona as capital, was now separated from the Italian 
kingdom, and joined under the name of the Mark of 
Verona to the German duchy of Bavaria. The Bishops 
of Padua and other cities received exemptions from the 
power of the Markgrafs, but in Verona itself, and no 
doubt in most of the district, the power of the Bavarian 
ruler was not interfered with by episcopal privileges.^ 

The owner of the Castle of Canossa, Albert Azzo, had 
received from Otho, as a reward for the shelter he had 
given to Adelheid, the counties of Modena and Reggio, 
those parts, namely, of those civitates which had not 
passed to the Bishops of the two cities. These 
possessions were further increased by the acquisition of 
the cities of Mantua and Ferrara, the latter as a fief of 
the Archbishops of Ravenna. The territory of Brescia 
seems also to have come into the hands of Albert Azzo's 
son and successor, Thedald. These large territories gave 
Albert Azzo's descendants a position among the greatest 
of Italian lords. The acquisition in the next generation 
of the immense dominions of the Markgrafs of Tuscany 
gave to this house the predominant position in Italy, and 
it rose to the highest point of dignity and power in the 
' Leo, p. 328-329. 



54 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

person of its last representative, Matilda, the "Great 
Countess," as she was called, the intrepid defender of the 
Papacy in the War of Investitures. 

In addition to these great lordships there was an 
immense number of smaller potentates, descendants of 
Counts, who had turned portions of their counties into 
fiefs, large allodial landowners who had acquired all the 
rights of Counts in their possessions, holders of fiefs 
directly from the Crown. Among them we need only 
mention the family from which sprang the royal House 
of Guelf and the famous Marquises of Este. They 
possessed immense domains scattered all over North 
Italy, from Genoa to the mouths of the Po ; in later 
days their chief fiefs lay round Este among the Euga- 
nean hills and the neighbouring marshy district of the 
Polesine. 

The cities were, as we have seen, almost all under the 
rule of the Bishop as Count. His power extended over 
the country districts to a greater or less degree, accord- 
ing to Imperial grants. 

Curiously enough, the Archbishops of Milan, by far the 
richest and most powerful prelates in Lombardy, do not 
seem to have acquired a legal right to the government of 
their city as early as some of their suffragans.^: Prac- 
tically, however, their authority overshadowed that of the 
Count, and we soon find them acting in all things as 
temporal rulers of the city. 

The century from looo a.d. to iioo A.D. is the epoch 
in which the cities of Lombardy took the last steps to 
full municipal freedom. Unfortunately our information 
regarding the various stages in this great movement is of 
the scantiest. We know the general history of the time, 
but of the course of the revolution, for so we must call it, 
by which the cities emancipated themselves from the 
temporal rule of the Bishops we know scarcely anything. 

' Hegel, vol. ii. p. 77-78 and p. 142. According to Bonfadini the 
Estensi were Counts of Milan until the revolt of Arduin (p. 85, 
"Vita Italiana"). According to Lanzani the Archbishop was made 
Count soon after 978 (p. 126), but only of city and for three miles 
round. 



THE RISE OF THE COMMUNES 55 

All we can say is that, at the opening of the eleventh 
century, the bishops exercised in the cities the authority 
which had formerly been vested in the Counts ; at its 
close the cities have reduced the -prelates to insignifi- 
cance, and stand before us as so many free republics. A 
German historian has figured with poetic imagery the 
transformation of Italian institutions during this century : 
" The power of the Bishops was the calyx which for a 
certain time had kept the flower of Italian life close- 
packed within the bud. Then the calyx weakened and 
opened and Italian civic life unfolded itself to the eye 
to form and bear fruit." ^ 

We may go farther and say that as what was a bud at 
eventide appears to us next morning as an open flower, 
but the processes of the change have escaped our view, 
so it is with the blossoming of republican freedom in Italy. 
At such a date it was not, at a later period it is : the steps 
in the change are hidden from us. 

We must content ourselves, then, with tracing the main 
events in the history of the eleventh century ; and we 
shall deal more especially with Milan, the most important 
of our cities, of whose history we luckily possess some- 
what ample details. 

The Saxon line came to an end in 1002.2 Though most 
of the Italians had grown accustomed to German rule, 
yet there were not wanting turbulent spirits, amongst 
them Arduin, the powerful Markgraf of Ivrea, who 
refused to acknowledge Henry of Franconia, the newly 
chosen German king. Arduin took the title of King, 
and established himself for a short time between the 
Alps and the Apennines. 

The mere appearance of Henry II. south of the Alps 
caused most of Lombardy to declare in his favour, 
and entering Pavia without opposition he there received 
the crown. But during the festivities a quarrel arose 
between the burghers and the Germans of Henry's suite. 
His army, which was encamped outside the walls, pressed 
into the town to rescue their master, and cleared for 

' Leo, vol. i. p. 417. 

' To the Saxon line succeeded the Franconian or Salian line. 



56 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

themselves a road by setting fire to the houses. The 
whole city was destroyed, and no doubt plundered, and 
so originated a deadly enmity between Pavia and the 
Germans. 

Hostilities of a sort went on for some years between 
Henry and Arduin, until the latter, despairing of success, 
retired to a monastery. It is at this period that historians 
place the first open warfare between Pavia and Milan. 
This marks at once the increasing independence of the 
cities and the commencement of that long and deadly 
enmity between the two rivals whose hatred to one 
another influences the whole subsequent history of the 
Lombard republics. 

Pavia, the ancient Ticinum, lies on the River Ticino 
a few miles above its junction with the Po, a position 
which gives it easy water communication for a consider- 
able distance above the city, as well as downwards to the 
sea. Its strategic importance was in those days consider- 
able, for it is the point to which all the roads from 
France over the Alpine passes naturally converge. 'f In 
late Roman times the ordinary route from Gaul to Rome 
seems to have led first to Pavia, from which the journey 
was continued either by water to Ravenna, and then over 
the central Apennines by the Via Flaminia, or else directly 
south over the pass at Pontremoli. These advantages 
of site caused the Goths to make it one of their chief 
strongholds ; it was strongly fortified by them, and in 
later times the Lombards, who only took it after a 
siege of three years, established there their capital. 

The territory dependent on the city was extensive and 
of extreme fertility. On this account Pavia became the 
centre of a landowning aristocracy. Since it was the 
seat of government under the Lombards and the Franks 
it naturally became the residence of a large official class ; 
in this way the city, of which the majority of the inhabi- 
tants were very probably of Teutonic origin, received a 

' The chief roads from France to Italy were from Vienne through 
the Tarentaise and over the Little St. Bernard to Aosta, or else from 
Brian9on over Mont Genevre to Susa. 



THE RISE OF THE COMMUNES 57 

markedly aristocratic character, which is plainly evident 
in its later history. 

Its situation, moreover, was eminently suited for com- 
merce, and we also find a considerable manufacturing 
element among the population. Against its natural 
advantages can only be set that the air is foggy, and 
is said to be less invigorating than in the adjacent cities. 
Such, in fine, was the prosperity of Pavia that although 
it was sacked by the Hungarians in 924 — it is said only 
two hundred citizens escaped from the massacre — yet 
forty years later the writer Liutprand calls it the richest 
and fairest of Italian cities, second only by a little to 
Rome itself. 

Milan, the Roman, as Pavia was the Lombard, capital 
of North Italy, is an example of a city which has always 
ranked among the very greatest, without there being 
at first sight any evident reason for such predominance. 

It lies in an open plain with no natural advantages 
for defence, near no navigable river, and in a district 
surpassed in fertility by many other parts of Lombardy. 
Yet it always appears as a large and wealthy city, and 
in our own day is not unworthy to be called the 
Manchester of Italy. The secret of its importance may 
perhaps be found in its central position in the great 
plain between Alps and Apennines, and in its situation 
with regard to the passes leading north over the former 
chain into Germany. The roads most used by the 
Romans over the Septimer and Spliigen passes, as well 
as the more modern routes by the Gothard and the 
Simplon, naturally start from Milan, and it affords perhaps 
the best point from which an army can strike at any 
invader from beyond the Alps. The later Roman 
Emperors fixed there their residence on this account ; 
the Church made it the ecclesiastical centre of North 
Italy, and the virtues of Saint Ambrose gave to the 
see a position in the peninsula inferior only to Rome 
and Ravenna. 

The city preserved its importance through all the 
barbarian invasions ; even the slaughter of its population 
by the Goths was only a temporary blow. Here the 



58 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

Roman element persisted, strong in the shelter of the 
Church, and as it was naturally in a most favourable 
position for trade with Germany it became a centre 
of commerce and manufactures. Hence while Pavia was 
Lombard and aristocratic, we find a more democratic 
element prevailing in Milan. 

It was only natural that jealousy should arise between 
two cities so near one another, each having claims to 
be considered the metropolis of Lombardy. The contest 
between Henry II. and Arduin gave the first pretext 
for open hostilities ; with increasing independence came 
increased chances of satisfying the mutual hatred, and 
between 1013 and 1150 we find a chronic state of enmity 
between the rivals with six actual wars. 

With increased intercourse with Germany, and under 
the peaceful rule of the Saxon Emperors, Milan rapidly 
increased in wealth. At the opening of the eleventh 
century it is said that the city and the adjoining 
ecclesiastical domains numbered three hundred thousand 
inhabitants. I 

Its Archbishop was the wealthiest and most influential 
of the Lombard prelates, and in the early years of the 
eleventh century the see of St. Ambrose was occupied 
by a really great man capable of the highest flights of 
ambition, and with all the qualities necessary to make 
him the arbiter of affairs in Italy. Aribert, a member 
of an influential family of Capitani, was chosen Arch- 
bishop of Milan in 1018. A few years later the Emperor 
Henry II. died. The inhabitants of Pavia, mindful of 
his former severity towards their city, rose in insurrection 
on the news of his death, destroyed the royal palace, and 
endeavoured to persuade the King of France, and, on 
his refusal, the Duke of Aquitaine, to come and take 
possession of the crown of Italy. Their efforts were 
unsuccessful, and Aribert proceeding to Germany assured 
the new King, Conrad the Salic, of the obedience of 
Milan and the greater part of Lombardy. Conrad soon 
came into Italy ; and, since Pavia refused to open her 
gates to him, he received the Iron Crown in Milan. 
' Lanzani, p. 126. 



THE RISE OF THE COMMUNES 59 

It is probably from this time that the custom grew 
up that the King of Italy should be crowned at Milan 
or in the neighbouring town of Monza. 

Conrad failed to take Pavia, and had to content himself 
with laying waste its territory, a task in which no doubt 
he had the hearty co-operation of the Milanese. After 
hostilities had lasted a considerable time Pavia submitted, 
and Conrad returned to Germany, leaving Aribert as his 
representative in Italy. To reward his services the King 
gave him the right of investiture over the bishopric of 
Lodi. This meant that the future Bishops of that city 
were no longer to seek confirmation of their election 
from the King, but from the Archbishop. In those days 
the Bishops and their flocks were united in the closest 
union. Episcopal elections were still made by the 
clergy and leading citizens ; the Kings then confirmed 
the election and gave the new Bishop possession of 
the lands of the see. The Carlovingians and their 
immediate successors had turned this right of confirma- 
tion into one of nomination, but the increasing power of 
the cities had made the later Emperors chary of abusing 
this right. This grant to a neighbouring prelate, who 
would be backed up in asserting his rights by his flock, 
seemed then to the citizens of Lodi a grievous infringe- 
ment of their privileges, and excited in their minds a 
deadly hatred against Milan. In a few years this feeling 
burst into flame when, on the death of the Bishop of 
Lodi, Aribert attempted to interfere in the election of his 
successor. The Lodesans took up arms against him, the 
Milanese supported their pastor, and laid siege to the 
recalcitrant city. Aribert, who, we are told, at this time 
" disposed of the whole kingdom at his nod," proved too 
strong for his opponents, and forced Lodi unwillingly to 
submit to his demands. Henceforth, as between Pavia 
and Milan, so too between the latter and Lodi we find 
constant hostilities. 

To the enemies of Milan were soon to be added 
Cremona, provoked by aggressions on Aribert's part, and 
Como, to whose Bishops the counties of Bellinzona, 
Misocco, and Chiavenna had been granted by the 



60 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

Emperors. These grants had given to the Bishop and 
people of Como control over the trade routes between 
Milan and Germany, and it is easy to see how this would 
lead to quarrels over rights of transit and dues, which 
finally broke out into open warfare. 

While Milan and its Archbishop were thus by their 
growing power and pretensions exciting the fears and 
hatred of their neighbours, dissensions broke out in the 
city itself which mark a step on the road to its emanci- 
pation from episcopal rule. The lower vassals, the Valvas- 
sors, had long been striving to make their fiefs hereditary. 
The Captains opposed this, discontent grew, until finally, 
on a Valvassor being deprived of his fief, the others flew 
to arms and attacked the Captains.^ Aribert joined the 
latter, and the Valvassors had to leave the city. In the 
country they received a great accession of strength. Not 
only were they joined by the Valvassors of the northern 
parts of the Archdiocese — the counties of Seprio and 
Martesana — but the free nobles of these parts, who feared 
the encroachments of Aribert, as well as the inhabitants 
of Lodi, united with them in the hope of checking the 
increasing power of Milan. 

The two parties met in battle at the Evil Field between 
Lodi and Milan. The battle was indecisive, but the 
Bishop of Asti, who had come to the help of Aribert, fell, 
and his death caused the party of the Valvassors to claim 
the victory. It would seem that the conflict spread from 
Milan and Lodi all over Lombardy. On the one side 
were the Valvassors and those nobles who were not 
vassals of the Bishops, on the other the prelates and the 
Captains. 

Aribert appealed to the Emperor for help, and Conrad 
came with a large army to restore peace. It would seem 
that he had become jealous of the great power of Aribert, 
or else was persuaded of the justice of the demands of 
the Valvassors ; at any rate, instead of helping the 
Archbishop he showed himself inclined to support the 
opposite faction. Some inkling of Conrad's views had 
got abroad among the populace, and a rumour spread that 

'A.D. 1035. 



THE RISE OF THE COMMUNES 61 

the grant of the Investiture of Lodi was to be revoked. 
Indifferent as the mass of the citizens might be to the 
quarrels between the nobles, they looked on a diminution 
of the privileges of the Archbishop as an insult to them- 
selves. The very day after Conrad's entry a fearful 
tumult broke out in Milan, with threats against the 
person of the Emperor. The German forces were 
helpless, scattered through the populous city, and Conrad 
was forced to yield to the demands of the mob that he 
and his followers should at once quit the town. Taking 
a sudden resolution he marched to Pavia. Hostile as the 
people of this city had been to the Germans, their hatred 
of the Milanese was so great that the mere fact that these 
had attacked the Emperor converted them to fervent 
loyalty. Conrad established himself in Pavia, and began 
to set in order the affairs of Lombardy. 

This sudden conversion of Pavia to the Imperial 
interests proved lasting. Henceforth through good or 
evil fortune this city was the firmest upholder of the 
German interests in Italy. No doubt at first this was 
from purely selfish motives, as a means of resistance to 
the increasing power of Milan. But the Emperors of the 
House of Hohenstaufen seem to have aroused among the 
citizens a feeling of romantic loyalty that will compare 
with anything to be met with among those nations north 
of the Alps who prided themselves on their chivalrous 
devotion to their sovereigns. 

Conrad, fully determined to punish the Milanese for 
their sedition, assembled the Italian vassals at Pavia, and 
on Aribert's appearance had him thrown into prison. 
This step exasperated the Milanese beyond measure, and 
seems quite to have put an end to the dissensions 
between Captains and Valvassors. After a short captivity 
Aribert escaped by plying his gaolers with the heady 
vintage of Lombardy until they sank into a drunken sleep. 
Conrad now attempted to reduce Milan by force of arms, 
but his army was weakened by sickness, and the walls, 
strengthened, it is said, by three hundred towers, enabled 
the citizens to beat off his attacks. The Emperor invoked 
the aid of the Pope, who deposed and excommunicated 



62 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

Aribert, without making the slightest impression on him 
or his supporters. Conrad also sought to weaken the 
power of Aribert and his supporters by promulgating a 
law by which all fiefs were made hereditary, and which 
thus established the principle for which the Valvassors 
had been contending.^ This law was a serious blow to 
the influence of the Bishops and the Captains through- 
out Lombardy. For the moment, however, it was of no 
effect against Milan. Aribert, strong in the affection of 
his flock, was still able to maintain unity in the city and 
to defy his sovereign. Events in Germany demanded 
Conrad's presence in that country, and he was forced to 
depart, leaving Milan still unsubdued. Before his 
departure, however, he caused all his partisans to swear 
to lay waste the territory of the disobedient city once a 
year, an oath which we may guess was taken with alacrity 
by the burghers of Pavia and Lodi. Aribert was not 
behindhand in measures for defence. He armed and 
disciplined all classes of the citizens, and to form a rally- 
ing-point for his new military organisation he invented a 
singular device which was afterwards copied by all the 
Italian municipalities. On a strong wagon a mast was 
erected, from the top of which floated a banner. At its 
base was an altar ; the wagon itself was hung with 
scarlet cloth, and drawn by white oxen selected for their 
size and beauty. The name of Carroccio was given to 
this machine ; it was to serve as the centre of the army ; 
around it the bravest warriors were stationed ; on it 
priests stood to invoke the blessing of heaven on the 
soldiers, and to abandon it to the enemy was looked on 
as the extreme of disgrace. 

With such new institutions Milan prepared to face her 
enemies, when the news of Conrad's death arrived, and 
at once put an end to hostilities.^ This bold defiance of 
the Emperor clearly shows that the spirit of resistance to 
external authority had taken root among the Milanese. 

' In future no vassal of the Bishops, Counts, &c., was to loose his 
fief except when convicted of crime by the judgement of his peers. 
(Leo, p, 396, and Hegel, p. 148, vol. ii.). 

' A.D. 1039. 



THE RISE OF THE COMMUNES 63 

The people, united under their Pastor, had successfully 
opposed their sovereign. A few years later a farther step 
was taken on the road to independence, this time directed 
towards weakening the power of the Archbishop. 

A Valvassor illtreated a Plebeian — that is to say, a free 
citizen of the non-noble class. The mass of the citizens, 
who had no doubt become conscious of their strength 
during the war against the Emperor, took up arms 
against the insolence of the nobles, and a desperate civil 
contest began in the very streets of the city. The nobles 
were strong in their warlike training, their horses and 
armour, above all in the fortress-like dwellings which 
they had already begun to erect. The people had in 
their favour an immense superiority in numbers, but they 
lacked the cohesion which can only be given by a 
vigorous leader. They found such a one among the 
ranks of their adversaries. A certain Lanzone, a 
"Captain" holding high judicial functions, abandoned 
his fellows, and either from personal ambition or led by 
a genuine feeling of sympathy with their cause, joined 
himself with the popular party. He was chosen as 
leader, and so skilfully did he direct the people that the 
nobles, greater and lesser, were forced to abandon the 
city. With them went the great Archbishop, who in this 
contest only figures, and in vain, as a peacemaker, and 
thus he disappears from our view. He had once 
disposed of the whole kingdom at his nod, he now, in 
his closing years, saw himself unheeded among the 
contending factions from whose strife the municipal 
liberty of Milan was to spring. 

The nobles thus expelled maintained themselves in 
their castles in the country, and were joined by all the 
feudal element in the counties of Seprio and Martesana.^ 
The burghers were unable to hold the open field against 
their well-armed adversaries, and the nobles set them- 
selves to cut off the city from all intercourse with the 
country parts, hoping thus to reduce it by famine. To 
this end they erected a strong castle before each of the 

' These counties formed the northern portion of the diocese of 
Milan. 



64 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

six city gates, and for three years persisted in this block- 
ade. During this period the besieged citizens, since the 
legal authority was in exile, must have governed them- 
selves by elected rulers, so here we may well put the first 
appearance of republican institutions in Milan. 

To put an end to the struggle Lanzone, at the end of 
three years, went to Germany to the new king, Henry III., 
and worked so well on him that he obtained from him a 
promise of four thousand horsemen. Returning to Milan 
with the news of the approaching aid, he seems to have 
reflected that in thus calling in German soldiers he was 
exposing his country to unknown risks, and therefore he 
opened negotiations with the nobles, laying stress on the 
approach of the German forces. The nobles were in- 
clined to an accommodation ; and so a pacification was 
brought about. The nobles returned, and it would seem 
that the government of the city ^ was entirely remodelled. 
The people had learned that they could rule themselves 
without the Archbishop ; the authority of the latter was 
now much diminished, and the direction of affairs passed 
from his hands to those of the freemen, whether Captains, 
Valvassors, or simple burghers. According to Bonfadini 
the new constitution was ratified by the Emperor in 1055 
at the general assembly of the Italian kingdom in the 
plain of Roncaglia, and was published in the statutes of 
the city in 1066. From this epoch, therefore, he dates 
the origin of the Commune of Milan. 

The succeeding half-century is memorable in the 
history of Europe for the struggle between Pope and 
Emperor on the subject of Investitures. The Prankish 
kings had, as we have said, exercised the right of con- 
firming the election of the Bishops chosen by the clergy 
and people. As the Bishops, by grants from the 
sovereign, grew into great public officials and feudal 
lords of vast territories, the kings were naturally led to 
pay more and more attention to the suitableness from 
their point of view of the persons thus elected. 

On the death of a Bishop his rights of jurisdiction in 
public matters naturally fell back to the Crown, so did 

' Bonfadini, p. 100, for this, but he does not state his authority. 



THE RISE OF THE COMMUNES 65 

his fiefs, and the new Bishop had to seek from the 
monarch a re-grant of the rights enjoyed by his pre- 
decessor. These temporal rights were conferred on the 
new prelate by the bestowal of a ring and a staff, the 
symbols of his jurisdiction. Without this " Investiture," 
as it was called, the person chosen by clergy and people 
was not entitled to take possession of his see. 

It is easy to see that the sovereigns were tempted to 
turn their right of confirmation into one of nomination. 
They would inform the electors that they would refuse 
Investiture to all except the candidate they themselves 
favoured ; in this way the electors were left no choice 
but to give their votes to the person designated by the 
King. Under the later Carlovingians, and above all in 
the anarchy of the tenth century, we find the monarchs 
disposing at pleasure of the sees of Lombardy, conferring 
them as a reward for political services on the most un- 
worthy persons, and reducing the Church to a state of 
the greatest degradation. In the early eleventh century 
the increasing power of the cities somewhat checked this 
state of affairs in Lombardy ; at any rate, the Saxon and 
early Franconian monarchs seem to have avoided appoint- 
ing Bishops against the will of the clergy and citizens. 
In Germany there was no such check, and under the 
third and fourth Henrys the dignities of the Church were 
looked on merely as affording a provision for the friends 
and kinsmen of the ruler, or as a means of raising money 
by their sale to the highest bidder. The German annalists 
of this period give lurid descriptions of the manner in 
which the Church was degraded by this state of affairs. 
The most unsuitable, the most shameless persons filled the 
highest spiritual offices, looking on them merely as a 
means for extorting money from the lower clergy or the 
people, and for gratifying their own desires of luxury 
and ambition. The very excess of the abuse brought 
about a reaction. A succession of zealous Popes aided 
by popular feeling set themselves steadily to the task of 
rooting out simony and restoring purity of morals among 
prelates and clergy. 

To attain this end two things, as the German his- 

5 



66 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

torian Leo points out, were absolutely necessary. First 
the Papacy must be made independent of the Empire, so 
as to be able to act as an independent judge in all cases 
of suspected simony, and then to put this judgement into 
execution ; secondly, the mass of the clergy must be 
turned aside from seeking the advancement of them- 
selves and their families through concessions of feudal 
benefices, and this could only be brought about by the 
establishment of a celibate priesthood. 

The attempt to carry out these reforms met, as was 
natural, with obstinate resistance. Stringent decrees 
were passed against simony and the marriage of the 
clergy by the five Popes who from 1048 to 1073 followed 
one another on the chair of Peter. During these years 
the guiding spirit of the movement for reform was the 
famous Hildebrand, sub-deacon of the Roman Church, 
who in 1073 himself succeeded to the Papacy under the 
title of Gregory Vn. 

The struggle in Italy centred round Milan. Here, 
on the death of Aribert, four candidates to the Arch- 
bishopric appealed to the suffrages of clergy and people. 
They were all of noble birth, belonging apparently to the 
Captains ; for since the prelates had become great 
temporal lords, the high nobility looked on the episcopal 
dignity as by right belonging only to their class. The 
Emperor, however, apparently fearing that a member of 
the high nobility in the see of St. Ambrose might be 
tempted by Aribert's example to set himself in opposi- 
tion to the sovereign, forced on the city a certain Guido, 
a man of low origin, who might be expected to be 
thoroughly devoted to his interests. Clergy and nobles 
were incensed by this appointment ; the former on one 
occasion, to show that they did not recognise Guido as 
lawful Archbishop, left him alone at the altar in the midst 
of some public function. A man of immoral life himself, 
Guido soon won the higher clergy over to his side by 
condoning their vices, and through their means he found 
supporters among the families from which they had 
sprung. 

Three of the defeated candidates maintained their 




Photo.'] 



Gregory VII. 
(From the Stanze of Raphael.) 



[A linan. 



3 face page 66. 



THE RISE OF THE COMMUNES 67 

opposition, led less, it would seem, by disappointed am- 
bition than by a pure zeal for the reform of the Church. 
They declared that Guido had obtained his position by 
simony, and invoked against him the lately published Papal 
decrees ; they inveighed against his way of life and that 
of his supporters, declaring that the clergy should offer to 
their flocks an example of temperance and chastity. The 
mass of the people, disgusted by the scandalous lives of 
the clergy, eagerly embraced these views ; the reformers 
had also the support of their own connections among 
the nobility. 

We see now in Milan, and indeed in all Lombardy, a 
curious struggle entered into by the people with the 
support of Rome against the vices of the clergy. The 
latter were supported not only by Guido but by many of 
the other Lombard prelates, who, like him, had obtained 
their sees by doubtful means or were of immoral life. 
The Milanese clergy pleaded that St. Ambrose had 
allowed to the Milanese priesthood the privilege of 
marrying ; old custom seems to have sanctioned over a 
large part of Europe that where the priests did not 
marry they might have concubines, wives in all but the 
name ; among the laity were many who held that this 
state of affairs should not be interfered with. 

The city was therefore filled with confusion. The 
leaders of the Papal party stirred up the mob to attack 
the non-celibate clergy. Their houses were sacked, their 
wives and concubines beaten, they themselves forced to 
flight. Both parties appealed to Rome, and Landulph 
and Ariald, leaders of the Papal party, were excommuni- 
cated by Guido and an assembly of Lombard Bishops. 
The Pope, however, caused this sentence to be annulled, 
and forced Guido and his supporters to confess them- 
selves in the wrong. A temporary pacification followed, 
and Guido was acknowledged as Archbishop by the Pope. 
Ariald and Landulph were by no means satisfied with the 
leniency shown by the Pope in this affair. He aimed at 
introducing reform gradually, and refused to proceed to 
extremities against those who, after all, were only follow- 
ing the customs of a former generation ; they demanded 



68 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

a thoroughgoing change, and the rooting out of all 
unchaste or simoniacal priests. The struggle broke out 
anew and with ferocity. Landulph was fallen upon in 
Piacenza by the clerical party of that city, and so ill- 
treated that he soon afterwards died. His death brought 
into the field a still more formidable champion of reform, 
his brother Herlembald, a man of great daring and politi- 
cal capacity ; Ariald was still unwearying in his efforts, 
and at this very period the third of the leaders of this 
party, Anselm, became Pope under the name of 
Alexander II. 

The conflict had spread over the greater part of 
Lombardy. Pavia and Asti had refused to acknowledge 
the Bishops set over them by the King ; in Vercelli and 
Piacenza the Bishops living in concubinage maintained 
themselves against the populace. In an interval of tran- 
quillity in Milan Archbishop Guido led his forces against 
the Pavesans and utterly overthrew them at the battle of 
the "Field of Death." But Herlembald and Ariald, 
backed by the new Pope, again took up their campaign 
against Guido and the married clergy. The former by 
his eloquence gathered round him a band of followers, 
young men of the upper and middle classes, who went so 
far as to drag from the altars the offending clerics when 
they attempted to celebrate the Divine offices. The 
Archbishop himself did not escape ; he was set on in 
church, and almost slain ; his palace, too, was plundered. 
This outrage, which seems chiefly to have been the work 
^f the peasants who had flocked into the city for Pente- 
cost, caused a reaction in Guido's favour. His supporters 
gained the upper hand for a time, and seizing Ariald, they 
cut off his ears and nose, tore out his tongue, blinded 
him, and tortured him till he died. This aroused Herlem- 
bald and his party to new efforts ; Guido was forced to 
leave the city, and the reformers laid waste the houses of 
his partisans. Herlembald now acted as the virtual 
master of Milan, without the least regard to the rights of 
the Archbishop. Weary of the strife, Guido resigned his 
dignity in favour of one of his supporters named Godfrey, 
who received investiture from the King, but whom the 



THE RISE OF THE COMMUNES 69 

Milanese entirely refused to recognise. ^ The govern- 
ment of the city was carried on by Herlembald and a 
Council of thirty of his partisans, and from this date we 
may definitely date the emancipation of Milan from the 
rule of the Archbishop. 

Guido soon repented of his resignation, and opened 
negotiations with Herlembald so that he might return to 
the city. Peace was made ; but on Guido's entering 
Milan he was seized and thrown into prison, where he 
soon after died. Herlembald and his followers besieged 
Godfrey in Castiglione, and in union with the Pope set 
about the choice of a new Archbishop. The people, 
supporters as they had been of the Papacy in its efforts 
to reform the morals of the clergy, were not at all inclined 
to accept the direct interference of Rome in the affairs of 
the see. When Herlembald and the Papal Legate used 
every means to secure the election of a certain Atto, the 
larger number of the citizens, angry at their procedure, 
opposed an armed resistance, ill-used both Legate and 
new Archbishop, and forced the latter to swear to 
renounce his dignity. Next day Herlembald gained the 
upper hand, but Atto seems to have had a sufficient 
experience of his diocese, and, though recognised as 
lawful Archbishop by the Pope and Herlembald, to have 
taken up his residence in Rome. Herlembald's govern- 
ment soon raised up for him many enemies. He required 
every priest to prove by the oaths of twelve men that he 
had never had unlawful intercourse with women, and all 
such as could not pass this test were expelled from their 
functions, and their goods confiscated. By this means 
Herlembald was able for a time to support an armed 
force sufficient to maintain his rule. But such rule was 
in its nature illegal and oppressive, and above all offensive 
to the greater nobles. A new conflict broke out in which 
Herlembald obtained a complete victory. But his oppo- 
nents were now too numerous to be put down by one 
defeat. In 1075 disorders again arose ; the factions came 
to a pitched battle, in which Herlembald was defeated 
and slain, 

' A.D. 1068. 



70 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

In this very year Hildebrand, now Pope, renewed in 
a Council at Rome the former decrees forbidding simony 
and the marriage of the clergy, excommunicated several 
of the German courtiers who carried on a regular traffic 
in Church dignities, and finally took the last step towards 
freeing the Church from the royal influence by promul- 
gating the famous decree which forbade all Bishops to 
receive investiture by ring and staff. 

This startling innovation plunged the Papacy into open 
conflict with the Emperor Henry IV. For fifty years 
under this Emperor and his son, Henry V., all Germany 
and Italy were convulsed by the struggle which followed. 
The disorders which had for nearly thirty years vexed 
Milan and Lombardy were now merged in a strife 
involving nearly all Europe. 

The party which had defeated Herlembald had sworn 
to accept no Archbishop except one appointed by the 
Emperor. He nominated Thedald, a Milanese noble- 
man, and as Godfrey and Atto were still alive there were 
now three claimants to the see of St. Ambrose. The net 
result was the destruction of the Archiepiscopal power. 
Each claimant was lavish in grants to the people of the 
rights formerly possessed by the Archbishop, thus giving 
a legal sanction to what the citizens had already won for 
themselves. 

Though Herlembald had perished, the cause for which 
he had fought triumphed. Thedald, who in the quarrel 
between Pope and Emperor had naturally sided with the 
latter, could only maintain himself for a year ; the Papal 
party then gained the upper hand, and Thedald was left 
in possession only of some of the country districts, while 
the city governed itself. 

The chief importance, in fact, of the War of Investitures 
in Lombard history is that it gave the cities an opportunity 
to emancipate themselves wholly from the rule of the 
Bishops, and to take up a very independent attitude 
towards the Emperor. They were of course involved in 
the conflict ; the simoniacal Bishops and their supporters 
sided with the Emperor ; his cause, too, was embraced by 
the greater part of the country nobles ; the reform party 



THE RISE OF THE COMMUNES 71 

supported the Pope. But as time went on we find the 
cities incHned to withdraw from the general struggle, and 
to devote their energies to ends more directly affecting 
their own private interests. One and all they sought to 
get rid of outside authority, whether it was that of the 
Bishops or, in the case of many towns, that of Matilda 
of Tuscany, Hildebrand's chief supporter, the last 
representative of the great House of Canossa, 

The task was made easy for them. In many cases two 
rival prelates contended for the same see, and vied with 
one another in trying to win over the citizens by grants 
of their rights, parting with judicial powers, with the tolls 
which they levied on roads and markets, handing over 
the fortifications to the burghers, recognising the officers 
whom they elected to look after their interests. In this 
way, though we possess practically no details of the 
movement, the municipalities all over Lombardy became 
free. 

The reformation in the morals of the clergy for which 
the people had striven had been on the whole carried 
through ; there were still, it is true, some simoniacal 
Bishops, but in the main Hildebrand's ecclesiastical 
policy had triumphed in Italy. Satisfied with this, the 
townsmen were not disposed to aid him very actively 
in his extreme political aims ; and so, unheeding larger 
issues, they pursued their own way towards freedom. 

The Imperial authority still imposed respect, and in 
the later years of the struggle, especially when, after the 
death of Henry IV., peace was for a moment restored, 
and the simoniacal Bishops finally got rid of, few of the 
towns ventured to openly oppose the Emperor. Even 
soon after the memorable humiliation of Henry IV. 
before the Pope at Canossa,^ there was a strong reaction 
in his favour. In 1081 Henry was able to put Thedald 
in possession of Milan, and was solemnly crowned by 
him in the presence of a large number of Bishops of the 
anti-papal faction. For the next twelve years he had 
the upper hand in North Italy ; then we find a 
momentary union of Milan and her old rivals Lodi 

' A.D. 1077. 



72 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

and Cremona, which was also joined by Piacenza, and 
by which all four bound themselves to resist him, 
recognising as Emperor in his stead his rebellious son 
Conrad. This union, a foreshadowing of the later 
Lombard League, gives unmistakable evidence of the 
growth of independence among the cities. They had, 
in fact, at last become conscious of their strength, had 
shaken off the control of the Bishops, and were now 
ready to take advantage of the difficult position of the 
Emperor to establish their complete freedom. 

The first use the newborn municipalities made of 
their liberty was to engage in a fratricidal struggle with 
one another ; and thus begins that war of city against 
city which fills the whole of their history, and which 
is their disgrace, but at the same time makes their story 
one of such absorbing interest. 

At first this warfare was carried on in the name of 
Pope or Emperor. When, on the death of Henry IV., 
the War of Investitures entered on a second stage, this 
pretext was given up. The cities, while nearly all pro- 
fessing submission to Henry V., who began his reign 
at peace with the Pope, gave him but small assistance 
when war broke out afresh. But neither did they openly 
oppose him. They simply took advantage of the diffi- 
culties in which Henry was involved to pursue their own 
private ends without the slightest regard to his interests 
or to his attempts at pacification. 

There were many causes for these hostilities between 
city and city. Commercial jealousy, quarrels over tolls 
and roads, above all over the use and regulation of the 
watercourses which are of such importance for the agri- 
culture of Lombardy, boundary disputes especially fre- 
quent where the limits of diocese and county did not 
coincide, all these urged the new-born free communities 
to war. Another fruitful cause of strife were the relations 
between the towns and the country nobles. As power 
passed from the Bishops it naturally came largely into 
the hands of the leading citizens, the Captains and 
Valvassors, who, while lords of large tracts in the country, 
habitually resided within the walls. The jurisdiction over 



THE RISE OF THE COMMUNES 73 

these lands, formerly enjoyed by the Bishops, now 
naturally passed to the municipal authorities : hence each 
city now found itself ruler of a considerable territory 
extending over a large part of the diocese. 

There were, however, many nobles who did not reside 
in the towns, and formed no part of the new association 
of the townsfolk, the Comiine Civitatis as it began to 
be called. They were the descendants of the former 
Counts, those landowners holding direct from the Em- 
peror, and finally the episcopal tenants whose lands 
lay in remote parts of the diocese. This feudal element 
was obnoxious to the urban population. They levied 
tolls on merchandise, blocked the roads, often swooped 
from their castles to plunder the passing merchants, 
in some cases claimed rights of jurisdiction inconsistent 
with the newly-acquired municipal freedom.^ So we 
find that the cities one and all adopted the same attitude 
towards the country nobles. They claimed supreme 
dominion over the whole diocese, either as the lawful 
successors of the Bishops, who had in many cases 
obtained all the rights of the former royal Counts over 
their diocese, or in many cases as themselves now repre- 
senting these Counts. We find, in fact, that the citizens 
set themselves to reconstruct for their own advantage 
the ancient civitas — the town ruling over a subject 
district, an institution that had perished in the wreck of 
the Carlovingian institutions. 

Even where the diocese spread over several counties 
the same policy was pursued. Milan claimed dominion 
over the counties of Seprio, Martesana, Lecco, and 
Anghera, which formed the northern part of the immense 
Archdiocese ; Como laid claim to Bellinzona, Chiavenna, 
and the Val Tellina, as having formerly been subject in 
temporals, as they still were in spirituals, to its Bishop. 

So to the war of city against city was joined one 
between the cities and the castles. Of the innumerable 
combats and sieges which must have filled this period 
we know little ; the strife was prolonged in the mountain 

' Cf. the Counts of Lomello and Pavia, those of Biandrate and 
Novara, those of San Bonifazio and Verona. 



74 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

regions almost to the end of the thirteenth century, and 
we obtain vivid pictures of it at this time in the annals 
of Reggio and Parma. On the great plain of Lombardy, 
however, the task of the cities was easier. Otho of 
Freisingen, describing the state of affairs about 1150, 
says that by then all the nobles of Lombardy except the 
Marquis of Montferrat had had to recognise the supre- 
macy of the towns. The treatment of these new 
subjects was remarkable. They were deprived of their 
semi-sovereign rights, which passed to the cities, and 
were forced to build residences within the walls, in 
which they were to pass a specified number of months 
every year ; their castles, too, were always to be at the 
service of the city magistrates. But in return they 
obtained the full rights of citizenship, were made eligible 
for all public offices, were long left considerable jurisdic- 
tion over their vassals, and sometimes even exempted 
from certain taxes. 

We shall find in later times that the forced settlement 
in the towns of a numerous and wealthy landowning 
class, in addition to those who had resided there from 
of old, had a most important influence on the internal 
history of the Lombard cities. For the present, how- 
ever, it will be enough to mention that the war against 
the castles introduced new causes of quarrel between the 
cities. Many nobles sought to escape from the attacks 
of a neighbouring Commune by placing themselves 
voluntarily under the rule of one more distant, whose 
yoke would therefore be more endurable ; others sought 
the citizenship of more than one town, so as to play one 
off against the other. From all these causes the first 
fifty years of the twelfth century were filled with a con- 
fused strife spreading from the greater cities to the 
smaller communities of freemen, and the innumerable 
castles which then rose above the plains, or crowned the 
foothills of the Alps and Apennines. 

We have seen that the Lombards withdrew from the 
struggle between Pope and Empire to pursue their own 
private quarrels. Thus Cremona in iioo attacked Crema, 
originally founded by fugitives from the former city, and 



THE RISE OF THE COMMUNES 75 

over which the parent city persistently strove to assert 
her authority.^ Of old jealousy had existed between 
Cremona and Milan, and Crema naturally sought help 
from the latter. Natural allies of Cremona through a 
common hatred of Milan were Lodi and Pavia, and 
a few years afterwards we find the three attacking 
Tortona, a small town in the hills south of the Po, 
between which and Pavia there seems to have been the 
same enmity as between Milan and Lodi. 

These minor hostilities were followed by a warfare of 
much greater importance. Dissensions arose in Lodi 
between the citizens and the Captains and Valvassors. 
The latter were expelled, together with the Bishop, and 
sought help at Milan. The Archbishops of this city had 
since Aribert's time laid claim to a special authority over 
Lodi, and the Milanese ordered the latter city to receive 
back the fugitives. A refusal gave the signal for war. 
Cremona, and no doubt Pavia, helped Lodi ; Brescia, 
which had quarrels of its own with Cremona, aided the 
Milanese. The Lodesans defended themselves with 
vigour for four years ; but being far inferior in territory 
and numbers to their rivals, they could not prevent the 
devastation of their lands. Milan at this period of her 
history shows a power of expansion which is in truth 
surprising. It is possible that the civil strife over eccle- 
siastical matters, of which we have given some account, 
had made the whole population skilled in the use of 
arms, and inspired them with a specially warlike spirit. 
At any rate they overthrew the forces of Pavia in 1108, 
and utterly defeated Cremona in mo. A curious illus- 
tration of the manners of the time is given us by the tale 
told of the treatment of the prisoners taken on the former 
occasion. They were assembled in the great square of 
Milan, their hands tied behind their backs, and lighted 
torches being fastened beneath, they were driven through 
the open gates back to their own city, amidst the jeers of 
the Milanese. 

The Emperor came to Lombardy in 11 10 and tried to 

' The Countess Matilda had granted Crema and the adjoining dis- 
trict, known as the Insula Fulcherii, to Cremona in 1098 (Cantii). 



76 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

restore peace ; but the cities paid no attention to his 
exhortations. His contest with the Pope required his 
immediate presence in Central Italy ; and though he 
burned the small town of Novara, which had refused to 
acknowledge him, he could not afford to spend in 
Lombardy the time necessary to reduce Milan to 
obedience, so he passed on over the Apennines, leaving 
Lodi to its fate. Exhausted by four years of devastating 
warfare, the city fell at last into the hands of the Milanese 
and was rased to the ground. The inhabitants were 
scattered amongst six open villages, and the market 
which had brought riches to them was done away with. 
For forty-seven years Lodi disappears from the list of 
Lombard cities ; during this period her citizens groaned 
under the harsh rule of their rivals. 

There had been renewed troubles over Church matters 
during this period in Milan. Archbishop Grossulan, 
accused of simony, was for many years an exile ; his 
successor Jordan, chosen in 1112 with the approval of 
the Pope, was equally disinclined to acknowledge 
Henry V. as Emperor, or to accord to the Roman See the 
rights which it was now endeavouring to establish over 
the successors of St. Ambrose. The Bishop of Pavia 
seems to have been in the same position, and through the 
influence of these prelates the two rivals laid aside their 
hostility for a moment, and entered into a league 
equally hostile to Pope or Emperor. 

There seems also to have been a reconciliation between 
Milan and Cremona, to the great detriment of Crema, 
which was now attacked by both and captured. 

Dreadful natural calamities — an earthquake, a rain of 
blood, and other portents — ushered in the year 1 1 17. The 
Lombards saw in these phenomena the displeasure of 
Heaven, and the Archbishop and consuls of Milan 
summoned a general meeting of all Lombardy, in order 
to reconcile all feuds, and to urge men to repentance for 
their sins. Two lofty stages were erected in the space 
called the Broglio of Milan, on one the Archbishop and 
his suffragans took their seats, on the others were the 
Consuls of Milan and other towns with the leading 



THE RISE OF THE COMMUNES 77 

citizens. An immense crowd filled the surrounding 
space, and implored pardon for their sins while mutually 
forgiving past injuries. 

This assembly seems to have brought about a general 
pacification ; its chief importance for the historian is that 
for the first time we find consuls named as at the head of 
the state. The cities are now in fact republics, fully 
independent except for the nominal obedience they owed 
the Emperor, and under a constitution which will be 
better treated of in the next chapter. 



CHAPTER IV 

MILAN AND HER NEIGHBOURS 

We have now reached the period when the cities, having 
cast off the yoke of the Bishops, stand forth as so many 
free republics, owning, however, the universal supremacy 
of the Empire. 

At the head of each of the city-states, exercising both 
supreme executive and judicial functions, are the consuls, 
a name recalling the glories of ancient Rome. These 
magistrates, first mentioned in the archives of Milan in 
1 107, though the name does not appear in the annals 
until ten years later, seem to have originated during the 
closing years of the eleventh century. They were as a 
rule chosen annually ; their number varied in various 
places, and even from year to year in the same town — we 
hear of twenty in Milan in 1130; and besides the internal 
government of the city, to them was entrusted the 
command of the military forces in wartime.^ 

By their side, as advisers in all matters of importance, 
was a Council, chosen from the most experienced and 
dignified burghers, to which the name of Credenza, or 
Privy Council was given. Without their approval no 
matter of importance could be entered upon by the 
consuls. 

Below this Credenza we find, in later times at any 
rate, another and larger body, variously styled General 
Council or Senate, or Grand Council, or Council of the 
Commune, often numbering several hundred members, 
taken from the various classes of the free citizens. 

' In Milan, and no doubt in either cities, the three classes of 
Captains, Valvassors, and free citizens each had representatives 
among the consuls (Otho of Freisingen, bk. ii. chap, xiii.) 

78 



MILAN AND HER NEIGHBOURS 79 

Finally, as ultimate depositary of all power, was the 
Parlamento, or general assembly of the burghers, called 
together on great occasions by the sound of the great 
bell of the city, and assembling either in the great square 
or Piazza Grande, or in one of the churches. This 
assembly was only summoned to discuss matters of the 
greatest importance, such as an alteration in the laws or 
constitution. It would appear, too, that only such 
measures were laid before it for approval or rejection as 
had previously been agreed upon by the Councils. 

This constitution rested on older and more simple 
institutions. The trades guilds, some of which had 
maintained themselves from Roman times amidst the 
Lombard and Prankish rule, began to acquire increased 
importance, as the necessity for protection in troubled 
times caused men everywhere to join in associations for 
mutual defence. These guilds elected their own chiefs, to 
whom, perhaps, the name of Consul was given, and a 
body of counsellors. They possessed common funds, 
and were bound to protect their members as far as 
possible from outside attack. They would, in course of 
time, come to include the greater number of the towns- 
men, the fully free citizens being enrolled in the greater 
guilds whose members followed occupations looked on 
as specially honourable. We find the bankers, the 
merchants, the cloth manufacturers as the chief of these 
guilds in later times. 

Alongside of these associations of the middle and 
lower classes the Captains and Valvassors had also their 
associations for protection. These Consorterie, as they 
r,, were called, generally had their foundation in kinship, 
'^ the different members of one family formed a union, 
having certain officers at its head. The kinsmen built 
their houses as much as possible in the same quarter of 
the city, often around a small piazza, and provided for 
their security by the erection at the common expense of 
the Consortes of one or more of those lofty, fortified 
towers, the remains of which still form such a character- 
istic feature in some towns — for example, in Albenga, 
Mantua, Asti, and Bologna. 



80 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

It was part of the duties of the heads of the Consorteria 
to provide for the guard and upkeep of these towers, 
which served as a refuge in case of attack, as well as a 
means of offence against rival families by means of 
machines of war placed on the top. As the cities 
gradually subdued the feudal nobles, and forced them to 
become residents within the walls, the numbers of these 
towers increased. The newcomers built houses recalling 
their country castles by their strength ; the city nobles 
followed this example ; family vied with family in the 
height and ornamentation of their towers — witness the 
extraordinary leaning towers of the Asinelli and Gari- 
senda at Bologna — until finally the city as seen from the 
open country seemed positively to bristle with these lofty 
and slender edifices of brick and stone. Their numbers 
became enormous. Pavia is still called the " city of the 
hundred towers." In Bologna we know of at least i8o. 
Verona and Lucca boast of having at one time had the 
amazing number of seven hundred. ^ Besides the towers, 
the Consortes erected a colonnade or loggia, opening on 
to the piazza or to the street, where they could meet to 
celebrate weddings, or for funerals, or to discuss matters 
of common interest. The expression " famiglia di torre e 
loggia " became usual to indicate a family of wealth and 
position. 

On the downfall of the rule of the Bishops their 
jurisdiction passed naturally into the hands of the noble 
Consorterie and the chief guilds of the ordinary citizens. 
From the union of the two classes came the expression, 
" Comune Civitatis," to express the new municipal 
organisation. From this is derived the Italian comune, in 
English commune, the name employed by the Italians 
to describe the new city-states. 

These new institutions were, as we have already said, 
of a markedly aristocratic character. In the first place 
the great mass of the population, the artisans, the smaller 
tradesmen, were altogether shut out from them. Many 
of these were still in a state of greater or less dependence 

' Frati, " La Vita privata di Bologna," p. 3 ; Cipolla, "Storia di 
Verona," p. 172. 




"Torre f, Loggia.' 
Siena. 



To Jace page 80. 



MILAN AND HER NEIGHBOURS 81 

on the Bishops, or on some of the noble families, or of 
the greater guilds. As time went on they attained to a 
larger degree of personal freedom, but for the whole 
twelfth and the greater part of the thirteenth century they 
had absolutely no political rights. 

In addition to this the consuls, and no doubt the other 
officers of the municipality, were chosen, so as to give a 
definite proportion of representation to each of the three 
classes — the Captains, Valvassors, and ordinary citizens. 
In Milan, and no doubt in other towns, the two first 
classes had a great preponderance. Out of the twenty 
consuls of 1 130 nine were Captains, six Valvassors. 
Naturally, too, the non-noble citizens would as a rule 
choose their consuls from their most prominent and 
wealthy fellows. 

Especially, too, did the need of experienced leaders in 
war tend to throw the direction of affairs into the hands 
of the upper classes. In Milan, during the struggle 
against Frederick Barbarossa, all the consuls seem to 
have been nobles. But here we mark a change in the 
meaning of this word. The old distinction between 
Captains, Valvassors and Cives disappears, we now find 
Mihtes or Nobiles distinguished from Cives. The test of 
the former is that they fought on horseback. To the old 
divisions according to birth a new one succeeds which 
takes account of wealth as well. In Verona, in 1228, we 
find the public offices open to all who have horses and^ 
corresponding military equipment, and own property 
worth a thousand pounds money of Verona, as well as to 
all the " consueti milites," irrespective of their wealth. 
We have, in fact, a real aristocracy of mingled birth and 
wealth, not forming a closed caste, but accessible to all 
who could acquire a certain amount of property. In 
Milan, after the rebuilding of the city in 1167, the 
consuls were chosen from the nobles, using the word in 
its new sense, by one hundred artistce — i.e., members of 
the trades guilds. But soon the practice sprang up that 
the consuls of one year named their successors for the 
next year ; a state of affairs which threw all power into 
the hands of the new civic aristocracy. 

6 



82 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

This system, though persisting in Verona and also in 
other towns as late as 1228, was bound to decay. First 
of all there was a natural tendency among the ruling 
classes to close their ranks and to admit no new families 
to office. The milites began to grow into a caste. In 
this tendency we must see, to a great extent, the influence 
of the country nobles, accustomed to despise all those 
who were occupied in trade or manufactures. But the 
commercial classes were continually increasing in wealth, 
and, finding themselves now shut out from the offices of 
the state, a large and ever-increasing class grew up 
envious of the ruling families, and eager to break through 
their monopoly of power. 

At the same time, as discontent with the aristocracy 
grew, the milites weakened themselves by their feuds with 
one another. Many writers have declared that the quarrels 
between rival noble families v^^hich began to distract 
almost all the Lombard cities about the beginning of the 
thirteenth century, were due to hostility between the old 
citizen nobility and the newcomers from the country 
whom the former had forced to reside within the walls. 
Some have gone so far as to assert that the strife was due 
to latent race hatred. The town nobles, say they, 
whether descendants of Captains and Valvassors,i or of 
wealthy merchants, were of Roman, the country nobles 
of Teutonic origin. There seems, however, little or no 
ground for this assertion. Looking into the details of 
the feuds it is impossible to say that on one side were the 
feudal nobles, on the other the milites of the cities. 

The country nobles did certainly cause discord in the 
towns in which they settled. But it was by introducing 
their own lawless ways, by continuing within the walls 
the quarrels which they had had on their own 
domains, by despising the civic magistrates, and re- 
venging themselves without recourse to the justice of the 

' No doubt some Captains and Valvassors long resident in the 
cities were now engaged in commerce, or in banking ; the rich 
families who now ranked with them probably often continued their 
former business. Hence there would be a certain contrast between 
the old town nobility and the country element. 



MILAN AND HER NEIGHBOURS 83 

Comune. The city nobles copied their manners, and 
became more and more separated in sympathies from the 
mass of the people. Not only did they fight among 
themselves, they joined in oppressing the lower classes, 
and so still further increased popular discontent. 

So we find, in the thirteenth century, a class hostility 
which is nonexistent at an earlier epoch. The middle 
classes, the grassi popolani, as they were called in 
Florence, rise against the aristocratic rule. They first 
obtain a share in the government, as in Piacenza, where, 
in 1222, they got one-half the public offices and one- 
third of the embassies ; then they exclude the nobles 
altogether from power. 

Much of the subsequent history of the Communes 
depends on this quarrel between the middle classes and 
the nobles, and the gradual extinction of the power of 
the latter. In time, a new struggle would begin, this 
time between the middle classes and the lower orders, 
the plebe, or popolo minuto ^ ; but in Lombardy, 
before this movement could run its course, it was as a 
rule checked by the appearance of the tyrant. 

At the period of which we now treat these class 
dissensions were still in the future. The cities governed 
by a patriciate, to adopt a convenient word — 

" Sober and modest, knew internal peace." ^ 

United within, they were able to concentrate all their 
efforts on the subjugation of the country nobles, or on 
their warfare against neighbouring and rival cities. 

The movement in favour of a general pacification 
inspired in Lombardy by the calamities of 1117 was not of 
long duration. Parma fought with Piacenza in the very 
next year; in 1120 Parma was at war with Cremona. 
Verona, placed between the territories of Vicenza and 
Mantua, waged war on these two cities in 11 21, and four 
years later we find Reggio and Modena attacking Mantua 
on one side, while Verona assailed her on the other. 

' Siena offers the best example of such a struggle. 
^ Dante, " Paradiso," xv. 



84 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

All these hostilities pale before the ten years' struggle 
waged between Milan and Como, of which a poet of the 
latter town has left us a record in rude Latin verses, in 
which he compares the struggle between his mother city 
and the Lombard metropolis to the ten years' contest 
waged on the wind-swept plains of Troy. Since the 
extensive district subject to Como lay between Milan and 
the Alpine passes by which her commerce found its way 
into Germany, it is easy to see how quarrels with regard 
to rights of passage, tolls, &c,, would occur between the 
two cities. Hence arose a feeling of hostility which in 
1118 burst into open flame. 

The contest between Empire and Papacy was still 
dragging along its course. The death of Pope Paschal H., 
early in 11 18, gave Henry V. the opportunity of 
endeavouring to place on the Papal chair a supporter of 
his own, Burdinus, Archbishop of Braga, in opposition to 
Gelasius II., who had been chosen by the majority of the 
Roman clergy and people a few days after Paschal's 
death. The cities of Lombardy on the whole were 
nominally on the Emperor's side ; in many of them the 
Bishops acknowledged Burdinus, in others Henry 
proceeded to nominate Bishops of his own party, 
deposing the supporters of Gelasius. In Como the 
Bishop held with Gelasius. Henry declared him deposed 
and nominated in his stead a Milanese of one of the 
leading noble families of that city. The new Bishop 
advanced with a body of armed men from among his 
kinsmen and friends into the territory of Como, but was 
fallen upon and captured by the citizens commanded by 
two of their consuls. Many of his followers perished ; 
the rest fled to Milan and spread out on the piazza the 
blood-stained garments of the slain, while the widows 
and orphans with shrieks and tears called on the people 
to avenge the dead. The crowd was easily worked to 
fury against their rivals, and the Archbishop himself, 
Jordan, though a supporter of the lawful pontiff, shared 
the passions of the mob. Patriotism prevailed over his 
ecclesiastical leanings ; he closed the doors of the great 
church in the face of the people, and declared he would 



MILAN AND HER NEIGHBOURS 85 

not reopen them — nay more, that he would place the city 
under an interdict — unless the burghers of Milan took the 
field to avenge their countrymen. 

The civic forces issued out with the Carroccio and took 
the way to Como. All travellers from Milan towards 
Switzerland are familiar with the ruined tower of Bara- 
dello, which stands boldly on a conical hill, seeming a 
sentinel to the enchanting region of lakes and mountains 
which begins at Como, a mile or two beyond. At the 
foot of this castle, then the main bulwark of Como 
towards the south, the two armies met. Night came on, 
leaving the combat undecided. In the darkness the 
Milanese left their camp and passing round Baradello fell 
on Como while its defenders were all absent in the camp. 
The city was given over to pillage and the flames. But 
at daybreak the burghers, seeing the smoke from the 
summit of Baradello, hastily rushed to the rescue of their 
families and homes, and falling on the Milanese, who were 
occupied in plundering, inflicted on them a complete 
overthrow. 

Both cities now prepared for a deadly struggle. Milan 
sought and obtained allies from all parts of Lombardy, 
and found perhaps even more useful help in the territories 
of Como itself. 

The movement towards municipal autonomy had not 
been confined to the cities. The inhabitants of the 
smaller towns, and even of the villages, whether fully free 
or vassals of the Church, or of feudal nobles, had shared 
in the general tendency to combine for mutual protection. 
They went farther in many cases, and aimed at complete 
emancipation from any overlord but the Emperor. But 
in this they encountered the opposition of the cities, who 
claimed to rule over the whole of their contado. In 
Tuscany, owing to the late rise of the greater Communes, 
and to their jealousies with one another, some quite small 
communities such as San Gemignano, Colle, Prato, and 
the castelli of the Val di Nievole, actually did succeed in 
gaining their independence, and survived as miniature 
republics until the fourteenth century. In Lombardy, 
however, where, as has been already said, the greater 



86 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

Communes found themselves almost from the first in 
possession of a large part of the contado, the sm^ll 
communities found it impossible long to resist encroach- 
ments on their freedom. They were left, it is true, a 
measure of self-government, but had to pay taxes to the 
ruling city, and submit to its commands in all important 
matters. 

They did not, however, always give up the idea of 
shaking off this yoke ; and so, in the case of Como, Milan 
found no difficulty in exciting to revolt many of the 
small towns along the lake, Bellagio, Menaggio, and 
others whose picturesque sites are now so familiar to the 
tourist. 

Chief among these small communities were the in- 
habitants of Isola Comacina, the small island, barely a 
mile in circumference, which lies, the only island in the 
lake, only a few yards from the shore, not far from that 
delightful region the Tremezzina, which claims with 
justice the title of the " Garden of Lombardy." 

Its situation had made it important from the earliest 
times. To it had fled, during the Lombard invasion, the 
most spirited among the Roman inhabitants of the neigh- 
bourhood, carrying with them their property. The small 
stretch of water between it and the mainland proved to 
the Lombards, unacquainted with navigation, an obstacle 
which they could not overcome. Not until twenty years 
had passed did it come under the Lombard rule, and then 
only in virtue of an honourable capitulation. Byzantine 
civilisation had preserved itself here during this interval 
amidst the flood of surrounding barbarism ; and it is from 
it, and not from Como, that many modern writers derive 
the origin of the Maestri Comacini, the guild of masons 
and architects alluded to in the Lombard laws, to whom 
in later times was due the erection of so many of the 
churches which display the architectural features desig- 
nated by us as Lombard. 

We find the island, Christopolis as it had been called 
while it served as a refuge from the Lombards, serving as 
a shelter to the son of King Berengar. Cantu quotes a 
charter of Otho I. in which he concedes to the inhabitants 



MILAN AND HER NEIGHBOURS 87 

and to those of Menaggio privileges hitherto unheard of.^ 
The island seems to have been strongly fortified, and 
possessed a small district on the mainland where the in- 
habitants had the farms from which they drew their sub- 
sistence. Much of their income no doubt came from a 
carrying trade on the lake or from fishing. The nine 
churches said to have existed on it are another proof of 
its prosperity. 

The Isolani felt the same jealousy and dread of Como 
that the latter city felt towards Milan. They now saw 
a chance of freeing themselves from the yoke. With 
the coming spring, in conjunction with the people of 
Bellagio, Menaggio, Gravedona, and other places all led 
by the same feelings, they equipped a flotilla of seven 
vessels, with which they made a sudden descent on Como. 
They met with a complete overthrow, and the Comasques 
had time to prepare themselves for the much more 
formidable attack which threatened from the south. 

Not only did the forces of Milan take the field against 
them, but the poet declares that Brescia, Bergamo, 
Cremona, Novara, Pavia, Asti, Vercelli, and cities more 
distant still, Parma, Guastalla, Bologna, Ferrara, Mantua, 
and Verona, appeared as aUies in their train. The Coun- 
tess of Biandrate, a feudal lordship extending over a large 
part of the diocese of Novara, came to the hosting, carry- 
ing her infant son in her arms, and even the distant 
Tuscan valley of the Garfagnana sent its noble knights. 
It is hard to explain this gathering from such distant 
cities. Possibly they were all for the moment on the side 
of Henry V. and his Antipope, and a feeling of loyalty to 
their Emperor may have called them to the field. 

This great force devastated the territory of Como, and 
laid formal siege to the city, while the vessels of Isola and 
its confederates scoured the lake. The valour of the 
Comasques and the strength of their walls beat off all 
attack. It was not possible for a burgher army, com- 
posed largely of men who lived by their daily labour, to 
keep the field for any length of time. The allies after 

' Cantu, " Storia della citta e della diocesi di Como/' p. 132. But 
is the charter genuine ? 



88 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

several useless assaults retired, proclaiming by a herald 
that they would return next year in the month of August. 
No doubt they chose this date as enabling them to reap 
the crops and destroy the vintage of their enemies. 

The next campaign was equally fruitless of results ; the 
Milanese retired promising to return in the following 
May. Como then turned to chastise its rebellious sub- 
jects. Both parties fitted out vessels of war, distinguished 
by names such as the Wolf, the Claw, the Swift, the 
Crastina (or Cristina), and the Alberga. 

The allied communities of Dongo, Gravedona and 
Domasco, near the head of the lake, who had formed 
a federation under the name of the Tre Pievi, or Three 
Parishes, and who aspired to set up an independent Com- 
mune, constructed a great ship to take the same place in 
the rebel fleet as the Carroccio had in the army. Twelve 
oarsmen urged it along, twenty-four valiant warriors 
defended it, from its mast floated the banner of the 
Tre Pievi, while below was a crucifix and altar. 

The fleet of Como, numbering twelve vessels, and 
manned by the flower of the citizens, sailed against their 
opponents. The latter do not seem to have ventured on 
a regular battle, and the Comasques carried destruction 
far and wide along the shores of the lake. With the ships 
they had captured, and no doubt employing all their own 
of every size, they collected a hundred vessels, and descen- 
ded on Isola. They sacked the island — we must suppose 
that there was on it some kind of citadel to which the 
inhabitants retired, for they certainly were not subdued 
on this occasion — and laid waste the mainland districts 
subject to the Isolani. Bellagio and other places felt their 
vengeance, and the fleet, laden with spoil, returned in 
triumph to Como. 

For the next years the history of the war is the same. 
There were raids by the Milanese to the walls of Como, 
counter-raids on the rich villages and small towns, such 
as Varese, which were thickly scattered over the north 
of the diocese of Milan. The conflict raged especially 
around the castles and villages along the lakes of 
Lugano and Como. On the former lake the Milanese 



MILAN AND HER NEIGHBOURS 89 

fitted out vessels at Lavena, and induced Lugano and 
other places to revolt to their side. The Comasques from 
the village of Melano, under Monte Generoso, fought 
them successfully, and chastised the rebels. It would be 
impossible to relate all the naval encounters, the surprises 
of castles, the plunderings, the various acts of treachery 
of which these lovely shores were the theatre. On one 
occasion Melano with the vessels in its port was betrayed 
to the enemy by the Comasque leader. At once the 
Alberga and Crastina were carried overland from Como 
to the Lake of Lugano, set sail for Lavena, recovered the 
captured vessels, captured others, and finally regained 
Melano. 

In 1 1 24 the Tre Pievi returned to their allegiance, 
and with their aid Isola and Menaggio were once more 
laid waste. A new attack on Como by land followed 
this, but so far was it from daunting the Comasques 
that in the meantime they again fell on Isola. This 
time we have clear mention of a fortress on the island 
which resisted all attack. 

The town of Lecco, at the extremity of the south- 
eastern arm of the Lake of Como, lay in the Archdiocese 
of Milan. The same reasons which made Isola and 
Bellagio hostile to Como should have made Lecco 
an enemy of the Lombard metropolis — in fact, we find 
that this was the case in later times. For the present, 
however, it would seem that Lecco felt more enmity 
to Como : no doubt there were constant causes of 
quarrel over the fisheries and navigation of the lake. 
Milan then found here a basis for a naval attempt on 
Como. Thirty vessels were got together at Lecco and 
advanced down the lake. The fleet of Como met and 
defeated them, and the triumphant warriors returned 
to Como, to take part in a sally which drove off a 
force which had once more -advanced to the walls of 
their city. 

During the next two years the same incidents were 
repeated, raids by one and the other party, combats 
on the lake, revolts and recapture of castles, a new 
attempt on Como. But the long war was beginning 



90 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

to tell on the latter city. Year after year its territory 
was ravaged, more of its subjects fell away, the enemies 
pushed their raids into the distant Valtellina, the whole 
district of Lugano was lost to them. Above all Como lost 
the man who had been the soul of its defence — the 
Bishop Guido, who died in 1125, uttering sad fore- 
bodings as to the fate of his country. 

The Milanese, with vastly greater resources, resolved 
on a final effort in 1127. Their call for help from their 
allies was answered as before by Asti, Cremona, Novara, 
Pavia, Vercelli, Parma, Bologna, Ferrara, and Mantua. 
The conquered Lodi, and Crema the constant client of 
Milan, sent their forces as a matter of course. New allies 
appeared — Alba, Albenga, Modena, Piacenza and Vicenza. 
The nobles of Garfagnana came as before, so did the young 
Count of Biandrate, now a boy eager to taste of war. 
Genoese engineers came to direct mining operations, 
Pisans to construct engines of war. Lecco and Isola 
attacked on the side of the lake. 

The courage of the people of Como was not broken 
by the overwhelming might of their enemies. But their 
resources were unequal to their spirit. The flower of 
their youth had fallen in the nine years' war. Old men 
and mere boys had to take their places on the walls. 
The latter, shaken by the machines constructed by the 
Genoese, began to yield. A desperate sortie of the 
besieged in the hope of destroying these engines was 
repulsed ; the assailants had already opened a breach, 
and awaited the next day in order to give the final 
assault. Then the townsmen, seeing all hope of defend- 
ing their city gone, embraced the desperate resolution 
of conveying the remnant of their forces, with the 
women and children, to the neighbouring fortress of 
Vico, and from thence continuing the war. 

In the darkness of the night, while a chosen band 
of warriors made a final sortie to distract the attention 
of the enemy, the women and children, and finally 
the surviving defenders of the city, embarked on the 
vessels in the harbour, carrying with them what they 
could of their property. At daybreak the Milanese saw 



MILAN AND HER NEIGHBOURS 91 

the wall deserted and the city void of life. But they 
also saw the walls of Vico manned and ready to 
sustain a new siege, which its position on a rock 
inaccessible to their machines would infallibly render 
as arduous as had been that of the city. 

They therefore sent to the fugitives, proposing an 
honourable capitulation. The walls of Como were to 
be destroyed, and Como was to pay homage and tribute 
to Milan, but the property of its inhabitants was to be 
inviolable. This latter condition was not observed; the 
city was sacked, its fairest edifices destroyed, many of 
the inhabitants led away into captivity. We will see 
how in later days these outrages were avenged. 

I have dwelt thus at length on this war because it 
offers in its varied and picturesque details a vivid 
picture of the fratricidal contests of the cities, and 
because it shows us the degree of independence to 
which they had now attained, and the wonderful outburst 
of energy, and the intense patriotism which liberty had 
produced. Besides, there can be little doubt that it 
was in this long struggle that the Lombards acquired 
the experience in warfare and the spirit of self-reliance 
which in the next generation enabled them to defy 
the power of the Empire. 

One cannot fail to remark that the Emperor seems 
in no way to have interfered to put a stop to this war. 
The quarrel over Investitures had been ended in 1122 
by the Concordat of Worms, which reconciled Empire 
and Papacy on a basis of mutual concessions. Henry V. 
would no doubt have sooner or later turned his attention 
to re-establishing the Imperial authority in Lombardy, 
and as a preliminary to imposing peace on the con- 
tending cities. But this energetic and gifted monarch 
died in 11 25, at the comparatively early age of forty- 
four. 

His death was followed by a quarrel over the succes- 
sion. The Electors passed over Frederick of Hohen- 
staufen, Duke of Swabia, nephew of Henry on his 
mother's side, and inheritor of the greater part of his 
private possessions. In his stead they chose Lothair 



92 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

of Supplinburg, Duke of Saxony, a province which had 
always been inclined to opposition against the Emperors 
of the Franconian line. Frederick was not inclined to 
renounce his claims without a struggle, and he was still 
farther embittered by an attempt of the new monarch 
to deprive him of the lands he had inherited from the 
Franconian House. War broke out in Germany in 1126. 
Next year Frederick's brother Conrad returned from the 
Holy Land, and with his brother's consent took the 
title of King. Leaving Frederick to carry on the war 
in Germany, Conrad passed into Italy, hoping by his 
presence there to win the whole country to his 
obedience. 

The Imperial authority had been in abeyance in the 
peninsula for several years past, and the Communes, 
left without restraint on their actions, had taken the 
opportunity to pursue their quarrels with one another 
with ever increasing fury. It became practically a matter 
of course that each city should be in a chronic state 
of feud with its immediate neighbours. Temporary 
peaces might be patched up, two rivals might find them- 
selves for a moment united by a common hostility to 
a third, but these were mere breaks in the ordinary 
course of affairs. We may lay down as an axiom that 
two Communes having a common frontier were per- 
petually at variance. 

The Romans, in laying out the civitates of Cisalpine 
Gaul, had in the main followed the plan of giving to each 
of the towns they founded a long and somewhat narrow 
strip of territory, running from Apennines or Alps north 
or south, until it touched the Po. This is especially to 
be noticed in the case of the cities founded along the 
Via Emilia, in the modern provinces of Emilia and 
Romagna. Hence, as a glance at the map will show, 
each Commune found itself shut in between two neigh- 
bours on the east and west respectively, with a third, 
lying north or south as the case might be, and usually 
separated from it by the Po or some other large river. 
Bearing this in mind, it will be easy to grasp the general 
principle underlying the apparently confused warfare 



MILAN AND HER NEIGHBOURS 93 

which fills up most of the next century. Each town was 
in a state of chronic hostility to its eastern and western 
neighbour, and to a less extent with the city whose 
territory fronted it on the opposite side of the Po. 

So Piacenza was the deadly enemy of Parma and 
Pavia, and since Milan lay on the other side of Pavia a 
natural alliance sprang up between Piacenza and Milan. 
Brescia was bounded by Bergamo on the west, and on 
the south-west the Oglio separated it from Cremona. 
Both these cities were enemies of Milan, so the latter 
was brought into alliance with Brescia. On its eastern 
frontier the Lago di Garda cut off Brescia from Verona, 
except for a few miles at its southern extremity ; but 
there was no natural division between Mantua and 
Brescia, hence these two cities were generally at variance. 
Cremona was as we have seen the neighbour and enemy 
of Brescia ; its border only touched the territories of 
Mantua for a short distance, so that Cremona and 
Mantua, though often at variance, were often drawn 
together by a common hostility to Brescia. 

The situation of Milan and Pavia was somewhat 
different. Their territories did not run up to the moun- 
tains, and were of more circular form. Seven cities 
hemmed in the territory of Milan, and in most cases no 
natural boundaries served to divide them. Hence Milan 
was ringed round with enemies. Chief of all was Pavia, 
whose long duel with Milan forms the central point 
round which one may group the main story of the 
Lombard cities. We have already seen the relations of 
Milan with Lodi, Como, and Cremona ; this last ranks 
next after Pavia among the opponents of the city of 
St. Ambrose. To these foes must now be added Novara 
on the west and Bergamo on the east. The small 
Crema, over which Cremona claimed dominion, was 
forced by this to become the ally, one might almost say 
the vassal, of Cremona's rival. On the other hand 
Vercelli, which, as bordering on Novara and Pavia, might 
have been expected to be on the Milanese side, seems 
for some unexplained reason to have lived on good terms 
with its neighbours. 



94 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

South of the Po Bologna and Modena were at constant 
variance. Reggio was at first generally allied with 
Bologna ; Parma was the close friend of Modena. 
Reggio was also constantly at war with Mantua, which 
possessed a small district south of the Po, which she 
sought to extend at the expense of Reggio. So we find 
Modena, Mantua, and Parma frequently leagued against 
Bologna and Reggio. At a later period, however, for 
reasons not easy to explain, we find the three Emilian 
towns, Modena, Reggio, and Parma, in close alliance 
with Cremona against Bologna, Brescia, Piacenza, and 
Milan. 

To sum up, we can class all the cities west of the 
Mincio in two groups under the headship of Milan and 
Pavia. Under the first were arranged Crema, Brescia, 
Piacenza, Tortona ; under the second we find Cremona, 
Lodi, Bergamo, Como, Novara, and Asti. Vercelli has 
no very definite position ; Mantua, Reggio, and Modena 
were outside the influence of the two leaders ; finally 
Parma supported now the one, now the other, according 
as her hostility was directed at one time against Cremona, 
at another against Piacenza.^ 

The state of affairs in eastern Lombardy, the Trevisan 
or Veronese Mark as it was called, was somewhat 
different. We have seen how under the Othos this 
district had been separated from the kingdom of Italy, 
and joined first to the Duchy of Bavaria, then to 
Carinthia when this latter district was raised to the 
position of a duchy. Under the First Conrad the whole 
eastern portion of the Mark, the territory now known as 
FriuH, was given to the Patriarch of Aquileia, and com- 
pletely freed from all dependence on Carinthia. The 
rest of the Mark was now separated geographically from 
Carinthia, and the influence of the Dukes was less and 

' Parma fought Cremona in 1120, 1121, 1131, and 1153; she 
fought Piacenza in 11 18, 1149, 1153 (when Cremona and Piacenza 
were for a moment aUied), and 1159. In 1152 Parma ravaged the 
lands of Reggio, and took and burned the small town of Borgo San 
Donnino and carried off all its inhabitants as captives (Chronicum 
Parmense. — Chronicum Placentinum). 



MILAN AND HER NEIGHBOURS 95 

less able to make itself felt in these parts. So the Bishops, 
and finally the Communes, began to establish their power 
here as in the rest of Lombardy, and finally about the 
close of the eleventh century a disputed succession in 
Carinthia enabled the Mark to shake off all dependence 
on the Dukes. 

The Lake of Garda, and the delta of the Po cut off the 
most part of this region from the neighbouring cities. It 
was only along its south-western boundary that it had 
any close contact with the rest of Lombardy. The 
territory of Mantua formed the frontier along most of 
this boundary, and it is only through the relations of 
Verona with this city that the Trevisan Mark comes into 
contact at this early period with the general current of 
Lombard history. 

Of the four chief cities of this region Treviso and 
Verona had no direct contact with one another. Padua 
touched the frontiers of both, so did Vicenza, which latter 
city was bounded on the south by Padua. Hence there 
was here no natural system of alliances possible. Each 
Commune fought with its three neighbours, the result 
being a tangle of feuds impossible to reduce to order. 
To the east of Treviso, lay a kind of debateable region 
where feudal lords and small towns tried to preserve 
their independence alike from Treviso and from the 
Patriarchs of Aquileia. The contests here led to practical 
anarchy. Finally the small towns of Feltre and Belluno 
among the mountains lagged behind the others in 
their development. The Bishops here preserved their 
authority down to a comparatively late period. 

The Milanese received Conrad with enthusiasm. They 
may have thought that the German princes should not 
have raised a new dynasty to the throne without some 
consultation with the Italians. The Archbishop, Anselm, 
was at the moment engaged in a quarrel with the Pope 
over the rights of his see, and so was eager to gain for 
himself the support of the Imperial name. Conrad 
received the Iron Crown of Lombardy at Monza, and the 
ceremony was afterwards repeated at Milan. This city 
was now by far the most powerful in Lombardy, since 



96 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

the burghers of Como and Lodi, though retaining a 
semblance of autonomy, were completely subject to the 
orders of their conquerers. But Conrad soon found that 
his Italian subjects aimed more at serving their own 
interests than his, and were of little use to him in his 
attempt to push on to be crowned in Rome. 

Pavia, Cremona, and Novara naturally rejected the 
choice of Milan ; the Pope, supporting Lothair as the 
lawful king, laid the city under an interdict, and possibly 
on this account Brescia and Piacenza forsook their 
former ally and joined the party of Lothair. A desultory 
warfare ensued, in which the Milanese chronicler, Lan- 
dulph the Younger, claims the advantage for his fellow 
citizens. But this in no way advanced Conrad's cause. 
The Papal interdict turned many of the Milanese from 
his side ; he found himself treated with contempt by his 
subjects, until finally an outbreak in Milan forced him to 
leave that city for Parma. Here, too, he found little 
help, and finally he recrossed the Alps after a stay of 
some years in Lombardy. 

Soon after Lothair appeared on the scene, but with 
forces so small as to be able to attempt nothing against 
the greater cities, such as Verona and Parma, which 
refused to receive him. With the Cremonese he be- 
sieged Crema for a month, but in vain ; then, with the 
newly elected Pope Innocent, he proceeded to Rome, 
where he received the Imperial Crown, but was not 
strong enough to expel from the city the Antipope 
Anaclet, who had been set up on the death of Pope 
Honorius, in 1130, by a faction among the Roman 
nobility. Unable to accomplish anything farther in 
Italy, he returned to Germany. Nothing can more 
clearly show the low state to which German power had 
fallen south of the Alps than the powerlessness of both 
the rivals to establish any hold on Lombardy. 

It is from this conflict that many writers date the 
origin of the famous names of Guelf and Ghibelline, 
those party cries which fill such an important place in 
the story of Italy. They very probably originated at 
this time in Germany, but it seems certain enough that 




^''•~s- v^^' '^^^4"' w-'^^^^^ 



Statue of Conrad III. 



To face page 97. 



MILAN AND HER NEIGHBOURS 97 

their introduction into Italy was at a much later date, 
most probably during the struggle towards the end of 
this century between Philip of Hohenstaufen and Otho 
of Brunswick. We do not hear of them during the time 
of the Lombard League, so we will leave the question of 
their origin and meaning untouched for the present. 

The Hohenstaufens, seeing that fortune was unfavour- 
able to their arms, submitted to Lothair in 1134, and this 
prince reigned with undisputed authority until his death 
three years later. On a second expedition to Italy the 
Milanese and Parmesans received him warmly ; Cremona 
and Pavia, however, presuming, perhaps, on their former 
services, were less obedient and refused to be reconciled 
with the rival cities. Lothair now turned on his former 
allies. The district of Cremona was laid waste, Piacenza 
taken by assault, and Pavia had to pay a heavy fine to 
escape similar harsh treatment. For the moment the 
Imperial power was restored in Lombardy. 

Conrad of Hohenstaufen, who succeeded Lothair,^ 
abandoned Italy to itself. He was first occupied in 
Germany, then went on a crusade, and when finally, 
after a reign of fifteen years, he was preparing to come 
and receive the Imperial crown at Rome, he was over- 
taken by the hand of death. These fifteen years were 
a time of increasing confusion in Italy. Mantua fought 
Verona — the chroniclers count five wars between 11 25 
and 1 150, and tell us that on one occasion the vic- 
torious Mantuans cut off the noses of three thousand 
Veronese captives — Bologna fought Modena, Brescia 
fought Cremona. Parma had war on all her borders — 
with Piacenza, with Cremona, and with Reggio. In the 
Mark, Padua and Treviso were ranged against Vicenza 
and Verona. But the most serious quarrels were in 
Central Lombardy : Cremona persisted in her attempts 
to subdue Crema, and the latter Commune put itself 
under the protection of Milan, The hostilities between 
Milan and Pavia had begun again in 1135. In the fol- 
lowing year the latter had gained an important victory. 
The Milanese army was captured or dispersed "like 

' In 1137. 



98 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

timid sheep." But in 1 139 victory favoured the Milanese. 
The greater part of the army of Cremona was captured 
under the walls of Crema. 

Ten years later Cremona and Parma are allied against 
Milan, Piacenza, and Crema. The former triumphed, and 
even captured the Milanese Carroccio. 

To these conflicts between the greater cities must be 
added those between the larger Communes and the small 1 
communities in their dioceses which tried to establish ■ 
their independence. Thus in 1152 Parma burned Borgo 
San Donnino and led away all its inhabitants as prisoners. 
A Milanese historian gives the name of four communities 
destroyed by his countrymen. If to these we add the 
continual hostilities between the Communes and the 
country nobles, of which the details are almost entirely 
unknown to us, we shall be able to obtain some idea of 
the distracted state of Lombardy about the middle of the 
twelfth century. 




Statue of Frederick I. 



To face page 99. 



CHAPTER V 

MILAN AND FREDERICK BARBAROSSA 

Such was the condition of affairs all over Italy when a 
new monarch was elected to the German throne, who 
showed himself determined to re-establish the fulness of 
the Imperial rights over the peninsula. Frederick of 
Hohenstaufen, who has gone down to history under his 
nickname of Barbarossa, nephew of Conrad, was chosen 
unanimously as his uncle's most worthy successor. As 
representative of the Franconian Emperors, as well as 
Duke of Swabia, he was master of wide possessions, and 
through his mother, Judith, he was nearly allied to the 
great House of Welf, which had been the most trouble- 
some opponent of the Emperor Conrad, as well as of the 
last two Henrys. His character was noble, he was full 
of great ideas, had a lofty sense of the dignity and rights 
of his position, and in Germany, at any rate, showed 
himself eager to punish wrongdoing and maintain in- 
ternal peace. He possessed considerable military talents, 
and in the government of his kingdom set himself to 
establish, as far as circumstances would allow, strong 
centralised institutions which would enable Germany to 
appear among European nations as a real kingdom, in- 
stead of a loosely joined agglomeration of semi-indepen- 
dent lordships. In the actual conduct of warfare he did 
not rise superior to the cruelty of his age, but, the victory 
once obtained, he was magnanimous. *' I love to reward 
rather than to punish," was his speech to the Milanese 
after the first capitulation of their city. It is, in fact, 
worthy of remark that neither then, nor at the time of 
the destruction of the city, after a second and more inex- 
cusable rebellion, nor when his arms had brought about 

99 



100 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

the surrender of Tortona and Crema, do we hear of any 
of those executions which even down to our own day 
have always accompanied the triumph of lawful authority 
over rebellion. 

Preparations for an expedition to Italy which had been 
contemplated by Conrad were now pushed forward with 
vigour. Frederick saw his authority firmly established 
north of the Alps, and was determined once more to 
assert the rights of the Empire in the peninsula, to which 
also he was invited by pressing messages from the Pope. 

A great Diet, at which nearly all the German princes and 
prelates assisted, was held at Constance in 1153. During 
three months Frederick, surrounded by a brilliant court, 
gave order to the affairs of his kingdom, and dispensed 
justice to all comers. It happened that among the multi- 
tude assembled in the city there were two citizens of the 
ruined Lodi. Seeing how Frederick redressed wrongs 
and upheld the right, the thought came to them of plead- 
ing the cause of their country, still groaning under the 
yoke of Milan. They went into a church, took from it a 
large cross, and bearing this, advanced to the feet of 
Frederick, where, flinging themselves to the ground, they 
besought him with tears to have pity on them, and to 
free them from slavery. 

This strange spectacle moved the pity of the bystanders 
and of the Emperor himself. He at once had a decree 
made out, ordering the Milanese to give back liberty to 
Lodi, and dispatched an Imperial officer to communicate 
it to the parties concerned. This official went first to 
the villages, in which since the destruction of Lodi its 
burghers had lived dispersed. He communicated his 
letter to the consuls and the Credenza, but its contents, 
so far from being satisfactory to them, filled them with 
terror. The Emperor was still far off, Milan was near, 
and might easily take a fearful vengeance for this inter- 
ference with her subjects. They implored the messenger 
not to proceed to Milan, and when they could not turn 
him from his purpose, they sent to assure the Milanese 
that they were innocent of having provoked Frederick's 
intervention. 



MILAN AND FREDERICK BARBAROSSA 101 

The royal letter was read at Milan before the assembly 
of the people. It excited them to fury ; the bearer with 
difficulty escaped with his life, while the document itself 
was torn and trampled underfoot. The people of Lodi 
were now a prey to the extremes of terror. They sent 
their wives and children for protection to Cremona ; they 
themselves scattered during the day through the woods, 
and in the open country, expecting at every moment to 
see the Milanese advancing for their destruction. These 
latter, however, did not venture to provoke Frederick too 
far, and attempted nothing against Lodi. 

In the meantime the Italian cities sent, as usual, 
deputations to congratulate the new monarch, and to 
offer him the customary presents. Cremona and Pavia 
took advantage of this to lodge complaints against the 
aggressions of Milan. Instructed of this the Milanese 
attacked these two cities, and forced the burghers of Lodi 
and Como, as well as their allies from Crema, to follow 
them into the field. A battle took place between Milan 
and Pavia, which lasted all day, without decisive result. 
In the night, however, the Milanese were seized with 
a sudden panic and fled, leaving their camp and a great 
booty a prey to their enemies. 

In October, 1154, Frederick, at the head of a great 
army, came down into Italy by the Brenner Pass, and 
proceeded to the plain of Roncaglia, near Piacenza, 
where, from of old, had been held the Diets or general 
assemblies of the Italian kingdom. Frederick himself 
has left us, in a letter to his uncle, the historian Otho of 
Freisingen, a concise but clear account of his proceedings 
in this expedition. The great vassals of the kingdom 
and the deputies of the Communes appeared before him 
to do homage, receive justice, and proffer their com- 
plaints. The Marquis of Montferrat complained of the 
attacks made on him by the people of Chieri and Asti, and 
was joined in his accusations by the Bishop of the latter 
city, which had evidently not yet wholly shaken itself free 
from episcopal rule. Pavia accused the Milanese of 
grasping aggression against its neighbours. Como and 
Lodi besought the Emperor to free them from their slavery. 



102 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

"The deceitful and proud Milanese uttered lying 
speeches," and offered four thousand marks, provided he 
would confirm their rule over these two cities. This 
offer Frederick rejected with scorn, and demanded from 
Milan guides and provisions for his army on its march 
from Piacenza to Novara where, he declared, he would 
give sentence regarding the various complaints. 

The route chosen by the guides, which indeed was 
the shortest, led through the districts which had been laid 
waste during the recent campaign between Milan and 
Pavia. The supply of food ran short ; the Germans 
ascribed this to the deliberate hostility of the Milanese ; 
and, in revenge, attacked and destroyed the castle of 
Rosate, though defended by five hundred knights, ^ 
and pillaged the surrounding districts. The Milanese 
attempted to pacify Frederick's anger, but in vain. His 
army advanced to the River Ticino and seized two 
bridges which the Milanese had constructed to help them 
in their attacks on Novara. Then he took and destroyed 
two castles which they held on the other side of the 
river, and from which they used to make inroads on 
the Novarese territory. 

Novara, Vercelli, and Turin, which he visited in 
succession, all welcomed him ; and then, crossing the 
Po, he advanced to punish the misdeeds of Chieri and 
Asti.2 The townsmen did not await his coming, but fled 
with such of their property as they could carry, and the 
two places were given to the flames. 

Then he advanced against Tortona, and ordered the 
burghers to renounce their alliance with Milan and to 
contract one with Pavia. On their refusal he prepared 
to lay siege to the city. Here, for the first time, he found 
what opposition the Communes from behind their strong 
walls were able to offer to a feudal army. He easily 

' "Equites" says Otho of Freisingen. 

=^ The contemporary accounts say Cairo, a small town and castle 
much more to the south, near Savona. But Frederick speaks of 
" this strong and large place," and from this and from the order of 
his march it is evident that Clarium {i.e., Chieri), and not Carium, is 
meant. 



MILAN AND FREDERICK BARBAROSSA 103 

made himself master of the lower town ; but the castle, 
or upper town, whose walls rose from a steep rock, 
defied all his assaults. In vain the most powerful 
machines cast stones into the town, or battered the walls ; 
in vain a mine was opened against the only tower whose 
foundations did not rest on the solid rock. The towns- 
men, aided by two hundred Milanese and by some of 
the nobles from the neighbouring Apennines, attempted 
frequent sorties, and successfully met Frederick's mine 
by a counter mine. The Imperial army, to which were 
joined the forces of Pa via and Montferrat, had to turn 
the siege into a blockade. A ditch cut off the town 
from all access to the open country, and after constant 
struggles the Pavesans succeeded, not indeed in shutting 
off the besieged from the only well from which they 
could draw water, but in rendering it useless, first by 
casting into it the dead bodies of men and horses, and 
then by throwing in pitch and burning sulphur. 

Easter came, and Frederick proclaimed a truce of four 
days. During this time the clergy, issuing in procession 
from Tortona, implored pity for themselves, as being 
innocent of all part in the resistance of the burghers. 
Then they artfully began to intercede for the city. But 
they were answered that their fate could not be separated 
from that of their fellows, and that these could expect no 
mercy unless after an unconditional surrender. Un- 
willingly they had to return within the walls. ^ 

Finally hunger and thirst accomplished what arms had 
proved unequal to. After a two months' seige the towns- 
men were forced to surrender. Frederick allowed them 
to leave the city, bearing with them as much of their 
property as they could carry. They took refuge in 
Milan ; and the Imperial army was rewarded with the 
plunder of the city, which was then given to the flames. 

After this tedious siege Frederick, on the invitation of 
the citizens, proceeded to Pavia, where he was received 

' Sismondi (chapter viii.) somewhat misrepresents this episode. 
It is quite true that they asked leave to pass through the lines of the 
beseigers, but they also did what they could to secure favourable 
terms for their fellow citizens. 



104 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

with all possible honour. Here he received the crown 
of Lombardy, and wore it for three days, in the midst of 
the universal rejoicings of the citizens. 

He then set out for Rome, to receive the Imperial 
crown. Piacenza, by which he passed, was hostile ; the 
example of Tortona had taught him how long might be 
the time necessary to reduce even the smallest city, and 
he passed on, leaving the Lombards for the moment to 
themselves. 

We need not follow the Emperor in his expedition south 
of the Apennines. It is sufficient to say that his German 
vassals, anxious to regain their homes after a year's 
campaign, forced him to disband his army at Ancona, 
without undertaking the campaign against the Normans 
of Apulia, on which, urged by the Pope, the Greek 
Emperor, and by many nobles of South Italy, he had 
decided. He himself, with his immediate followers, 
returned to Germany by Verona, where, when crossing 
the Adige, he nearly fell a victim to a treacherous attack 
planned by the citizens. 

This first expedition of Frederick had shown the 
power of the Empire when united under a capable 
chief. But no less had it shown its weakness. His 
army passed over the open country like a devastating 
storm ; but it was another matter when a feudal army 
had to reduce a fortified town. In the then state of 
military science famine was almost the only means of 
reducing a walled city, and the feudal army could not be 
kept together long enough to break down the resistance 
of a number of fortresses. The climate of Italy, too, 
was found to have fatal effects on the Germans ; their 
armies melted away rapidly ; and, if a city could hold 
out for six months, it might reasonably hope to see the 
hostile army forced by natural causes to raise the siege. 
To counteract these disadvantages Frederick at first was 
able to utilise the mutual hostility of the Lombard cities. 
The forces of Cremona, Pavia, and the Italian nobles 
supplied the deficiencies of the German levies ; but it 
might easily have been foreseen that, if the Lombards 
should once lay aside their feuds, and unite against the 




Milan. 
Naviglio Grande. 



To face page 105. 



MILAN AND FREDERICK BARBAROSSA 105 

foreigner, it would be an almost impossible task to reduce 
them once more to submission. 

Before leaving Italy Frederick had put the Milanese to 
the ban of the Empire, and deprived them of all their 
rights and privileges. These, or some of them, he con- 
ferred on Cremona, in return for " its faithful devotion 
and unstained honesty." As soon as he had gone the 
Milanese took measures to secure themselves against the 
attack which they knew was only postponed. ^ Their 
first step, taken as soon as the Emperor had left Pavia on 
his way to Rome, was to rebuild Tortona. This they did 
in spite of the attacks of the Pavesans, who on one 
occasion, however, succeeded in inflicting heavy losses 
on them. Next they fell on Novara and Pavia, inflicted 
much damage on them, and made themselves masters of 
a great part of the territory of the former city. On the 
side of Como they invaded the neighbourhood of Lugano, 
and captured twenty castles in this region. 

At the same time they put their city into a state of 
defence. To secure the safety of the suburbs which had 
sprung up outside the original circuit of the walls, they 
constructed the large moat, or rather canal, which, under 
the name of the Naviglio Grande, forms such a pic- 
turesque feature in the modern city. This moat, circular 
in form, formed the boundary of the city for centuries 
afterwards. On the inner side ramparts were erected, 
with gates of stone. It is said that on this work they 
spent the immense sum of fifty thousand marks of silver, 
eleven hundred thousand pounds of our money. 

They justly suspected that the citizens of Lodi would 
join the Emperor as soon as he appeared. They pro- 
posed, then, to bind them by an oath to be obedient in 
all things to the commune of Milan. This oath the 
Lodesans refused to take, except with the proviso 
" saving the fidelity due to the Emperor ; " and, as the 
Milanese refused to accept this, and the Lodesans allowed 
their movable property to be carried off rather than 
consent, stronger measures were determined upon. The 
forces of Milan marched against the villages in which 
' This was in 1156. 



106 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

the Lodesans lived ; the latter fled before them en masse 
into the territory of Cremona ; and the villages were 
rased to the ground. 

Besides Tortona, the Milanese could count on the 
assistance of Piacenza, Crema, Brescia, and the for- 
midable Isolani of the Lake of Como. Bergamo, as the 
natural enemy of Brescia, was a strong upholder of the 
Imperial cause ; but her burghers met with a complete 
overthrow at the hands of their enemies, in which over 
two thousand of them were captured, together with the 
great banner of their city, which for years was displayed 
with great pomp on the anniversary of the battle in the 
Church of SS. Faustinus and Giovita. 

Frederick had been detained for more than two years 
beyond the Alps, but at last in the summer of 1158 an 
immense army concentrated at Ulm, and from there set 
out by four different routes for the plains of Lombardy. 
Almost all the great nobles and prelates of Germany 
accompanied the army, the most formidable which, for 
centuries, had descended through the passes of the Alps. 

The various detachments concentrated in the neigh- 
bourhood of Brescia. This city attempted to resist ; but, 
terrified by the numbers of the enemy, the inhabitants 
capitulated after a few days, paying a large sum of 
money, and giving hostages. Here Frederick held a 
Diet, at which deputies from Milan appeared to negotiate 
peace. The Emperor, however, required complete sub- 
mission, and as this was refused the Milanese were once 
more proclaimed rebels. 

Frederick then advanced on Milan, and forced a 
passage over the Adda in spite of the resistance offered 
by a thousand horsemen. On the other side of the river 
Frederick met the deputies of the Lodesans, who be- 
sought him to provide them with new homes. He 
marked out a site for them, about four miles distant from 
their former city, and on this place they established a 
new and strongly fortified town, to which they gave the 
name of their old home, and which has lasted to our 
own day. 

We are fortunate in possessing abundant contemporary 



MILAN AND FREDERICK BARBAROSSA 107 

accounts of all these events. Otho of Freisingen and 
his continuer Radevicus give us the point of view of the 
Germans, and of the Emperor himself. The views of 
the Communes hostile to Milan are put before us by 
Otho Morena, a magistrate of Lodi, and employed in 
Frederick's service, as well as by his son Acerbus. 
Finally, a Milanese, Sire Raul, represents the party of 
independence. 

Frederick had issued orders to all Lombardy to send 
its forces to fight under the Imperial standard. The 
Marquises, Counts, and Captains obeyed his orders, so 
did nearly all the cities. Even Piacenza was afraid to 
face the gathering storm, and bound herself by oath to 
send a hundred fully armed horsemen and a hundred 
archers to the siege of her former ally. Only Crema, 
Tortona, and the islanders of Lake Como dared to stand 
by Milan. 

With an army said to number fifteen thousand horse 
and a hundred thousand foot, or more, Frederick 
advanced against the offending city. On their side the 
Milanese prepared for an obstinate defence. They could 
dispose of fifty thousand combatants, and flattered them- 
selves that it would be impossible completely to blockade 
the city ; while the deep canal which they had lately 
constructed served to protect their walls from direct 
attack by the rams and other instruments of war. 

Frederick, in spite of the frequent sallies of the 
besieged, succeeded in drawing lines round the city. 
He pitched a camp before each of the seven gates, and 
the troops from these were able to come to the help of 
any part where a sudden attack might be made. Constant 
sallies and combats succeeded one another. 

Outside the Porta Romana stood a monument of 
Roman days, a marble tower rising from four solid 
arches. Here the Milanese had placed forty men in 
order to prevent it from being used by the enemy as a 
point of vantage on which to erect catapults and balistae. 
They had hoped to be able to hold the ground between 
it and the gate, but the Imperial forces succeeded in 
isolating the tower from all help. The garrison, how- 



108 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

ever, held out for a week, until the Germans, getting 
under the arches, began to demolish the vaulting. Then, 
fearing that the tower would give way beneath them, 
the survivors surrendered. This post then became for 
the besiegers one of their most important bases of attack. 

In the meantime, the surrounding districts were laid 
waste, and the sallies of the burghers generally ended in 
disaster, though on one occasion they surprised the 
enemy and captured from them an immense number 
of horses. The constancy of the citizens was shaken 
by repeated reverses, and by the view of the devastation 
of their lands by the Pavesans and Cremonese. Famine 
and disease began to prevail inside the walls ; and citizens 
were not wanting who declared that these disasters came 
from the wrath of Heaven, provoked by their impious 
resistance to the sacred majesty of the Empire. Dissen- 
sion began to rise within the walls ; the poorer classes 
began to feel their sufferings intolerable. 

At this juncture the Count of Biandrate, the owner of 
immense fiefs in the territory of Novara, who was also 
a citizen of Milan, brought forward proposals of peace. 
He enjoyed great credit amongst the people, and would 
indeed appear to have been, for a time at least, in 
supreme command of the civic forces. His position as 
one of the chief feudatories of Lombardy made him a 
persona grata with the Emperor also ; and he succeeded, 
not without some tumults, in inducing the Milanese to 
send delegates to the Imperial camp to negotiate a 
pacification. I 

The terms of this were unexpectedly lenient. Milan 
renounced all jurisdiction over Como and Lodi, promised 
to pay a large indemnity, to build an Imperial palace, 
and to swear fidelity to the Emperor, surrendered all the 
Regahan rights, and submitted the nomination of the 
consuls to Frederick's approval. On the other hand 
there was to be a complete amnesty, Milan was to retain 
its dominion over the counties of Seprio and Martesana, 
and all the rest of the Archdiocese, the Imperial army 
was not to enter the city, and Tortona, Crema, and the 
' September, 1158. 



MILAN AND FREDERICK BARBAROSSA 109 

Isola Comacina were to be included in the treaty. 
Besides this the alliance between Milan and these cities 
was to continue. Curiously enough Frederick was 
unable to include Cremona, Pavia, and the other cities 
hostile to Milan in this treaty. He could only promise 
to use his influence to bring about a general pacification 
— a striking instance of the insecure basis on which his 
power still rested. 

The submission of the city was made in the most 
ample manner. The Imperial throne was set up four 
miles outside the walls. Frederick and his wife took 
their seat on it ; he wore his crown as on solemn 
occasions ; and the nobles of Germany and Italy arrayed 
themselves around their lord. The whole population, 
first the Archbishop and clergy bearing sacred relics and 
crosses, then the nobles barefoot, and with their swords 
slung behind their backs, then the people with ropes 
around their necks, advanced in long procession to make 
their submission before the throne. ^ This ceremony 
over, the Emperor dismissed the greater part of his 
forces, and, after a short residence at Monza, repaired to 
Roncaglia, where he assembled a great Diet to regulate 
the affairs of the Italian kingdom. 

For this purpose four celebrated jurists of Bologna 
were summoned to inquire into the rights appertaining 
to the Crown. Two consuls from each of fourteen cities 
were to aid them in the task. Frederick aimed at 
nothing less than establishing a regular constitution, 
which would define once for all the respective rights of 
the sovereign and of the subject. 

The Archbishop of Milan opened the proceedings by 
an extraordinary speech, in which he propounded the 
most exaggerated doctrines as to the Imperial supremacy. 
The Emperor was the sole lawgiver, his mere will was 
law, an order, a letter, a sentence of his was binding on 
all. These doctrines had been unheard of up to now in 
the feudal monarchies ; above all, the Church had for 
over a century been preaching an entirely contrary 
doctrine ; and it adds to our surprise when we find this 

' 1 158. 



no THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

very same Archbishop, only a year or two later, an active 
opponent of Frederick, excommunicating him, and even 
directing military operations against him. Perhaps the 
explanation is that the Archbishop hoped by Imperial 
support to regain the authority over the city possessed 
by his predecessors, and we are confirmed in this belief 
by finding at the time of the truce of Venice (1177) that 
the Bishops of Padua, Piacenza, Brescia, &c., whose 
flocks were all opposed to Frederick, had been excom- 
municated for supporting him. These prelates still 
possessed or claimed a certain amount of temporal power 
over the cities, and it was no doubt to preserve this, and 
to recover what they had lost, that they had joined the 
Imperial party. 

The commission then proceeded to inquire into 
the Royal prerogatives. They decided that all those 
rights to which the name " Regalia " was usually given 
belonged to the King, and that under this term were 
included the duchies, marquisates, and counties, the right 
of coining money, of levying tolls, of exacting provisions 
for the army (fodero, as this was called), of receiving the 
dues arising from imports and exports, ports, mills, and 
fisheries, and all revenues which might come from the 
rivers. In addition the subjects were bound to pay a 
capitation tax. 

This decision as to the kingly prerogatives was, no 
doubt, influenced by the Roman conception of the 
omnipotence of the Imperial power, for the study of the 
Roman law had been very lately revived and pursued 
with enthusiasm at Bologna, and had begun to affect to 
an ever increasing extent the jurisprudence of the time. 
At the same time it is to be remarked that the rights here 
adjudged to the Emperor were only the most ordinary 
prerogatives of government, and were, if anything, 
inferior to those possessed by the English Kings, and 
by the Kings of France within the royal domain. It was 
the first step towards the establishment of a strong cen- 
tral government. The consuls of the various cities — those 
of Milan, it is said, first of all — bowed to the decision, and 
resigned into Frederick's hands all the Regalia. 



MILAN AND FREDERICK BARBAROSSA 111 

Frederick now took further steps towards strengthening 
his authority. He absolutely forbade all warfare between 
city and city, as well as between private individuals. All 
particular alliances were to be dissolved, and any quarrels 
that might arise were to be settled by the Royal judges. 
During the Diet an immense number of private lawsuits 
had been brought before him for decision. To cope 
with these he had appointed judges for the different 
dioceses, taken from cities unconcerned in the points at 
issue. He now formed the plan of appointing in each 
city a magistrate to exercise both judicial and executive 
functions, who was to be taken from some other Com- 
mune, and who was to exercise authority in his name. 
To these magistrates, as representing the Imperial power, 
the name Podesta (Latin, potestas) was given ; and, as he 
held that the assent of the Diet allowed him to override 
all previous engagements, he at the same time entirely 
did away with the consuls, or made them subordinate to 
his new magistrates. 

His design was, in fact, to establish a really effective 
government, dispensing justice and maintaining order by 
means of magistrates appointed by himself, and revocable 
at his pleasure. This is government as we understand it 
at the present day ; and it was institutions of the kind 
that created the strong monarchies of France and 
England. 

Had he carried through his plans, Italy would have 
been spared centuries of bloodshed ending in slavery. 
But she would have lost all that makes her special glory 
- — ^that splendid flower of vigorous individual life which 
springs up in small communities where each man can 
take a direct part in public affairs, where honours and 
the chance of performing great deeds are within the 
reach of all. The life of Bristol and York, of Orleans 
and Rouen, has been a more peaceful and, we may 
suppose, a happier one than that of the Italian Com- 
munes. But they have missed the glory in art and 
literature which will for ever be associated with the free 
cities of Tuscany, the splendid maritime supremacy of 
Pisa and Genoa and Venice, the marvellous development 



112 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

of commerce and manufacturing industry that we find in 
Lombardy. Italy might have gained, the world would 
have lost by the victory of Barbarossa. 

It was perfectly certain that, however right Frederick's 
reforms might be from the abstract point of view, they 
would meet with fierce opposition. For at least half a 
century the cities had been in possession of all those 
privileges which were now withdrawn at one stroke. 
They had acquired these privileges step by step ; they 
looked on them as their only safeguard against feudal 
oppression or Royal tyranny ; it was their possession 
that had made the various Communes flourish, and had 
evoked that burning flame of local patriotism of which 
we have already seen examples. To them Frederick's 
measures meant destruction to all they had learnt to 
prize, a retrograde step from liberty to slavery. 

Frederick himself had recognised this. He had con- 
firmed to Lodi, Pavia, and Cremona all the privileges 
which they actually enjoyed, and he furthermore declared 
that he would confirm to all the Communes those Regalian 
rights of the grant of which by former sovereigns they 
could furnish documentary proof. But this was in 
reality a mere elusive concession. In most cases the 
Regalian rights had passed insensibly from the Bishops to 
the citizens during the confusion at the close of the 
eleventh century. In scarcely any case would formal 
documents exist recording the privileges which the 
Communes had acquired in a great part by usurpation, 
and which had then in course of time grown into a right 
by prescription. Almost certainly the Milanese could 
show no other sanction for their institutions than that 
which long possession might give, and doubtless many 
other cities were similarly situated. Even the Bishops, 
in many cases, would have found it hard to produce 
documents to prove that they had succeeded by lawful 
means to the authority of the Counts. 

The feudal lords no doubt fared much better. Most 
of those who held directly from the Crown had at some 
time or another received formal grants of countly rights 
in their domains. Frederick's measures, too, would tend 



MILAN AND FREDERICK BARBAROSSA 113 

to free them from all encroachments made on them 
by the cities, preserve them from further attack, and so 
would restore them to the position of independence 
which they had held half a century before. Hence 
we find the Marquises, Counts, and greater nobles 
generally supporting the Imperial policy. The net result 
of Frederick's reforms was that an annual sum of thirty 
thousand talents (perhaps marks) was added to his 
revenues. 

To propound this new organisation of the kingdom 
was easier than to carry it out ; and Frederick soon 
found himself once more in collision with the cities 
which had before resisted him. The Cremonese accused 
the people of Piacenza of having attacked their delegates 
when on their way to Roncaglia. Whether this com- 
plaint was founded or not we cannot say, but Frederick 
decided in favour of his own partisans, and condemned 
the Piacentines to destroy their fortifications, and to level 
all their towers to the height of twenty cubits. The 
burghers pretended to obey, but in reality evaded carry- 
ing out the order. He next, also to please the 
Cremonese, gave orders that the people of Crema should 
destroy part of their walls. Far from obeying, the 
people broke out into a violent tumult when Imperial 
officers arrived to give the order and to institute a 
Podesta. 

But it was with Milan that the chief conflict arose. 
Both sides accused the other of a breach of the 
capitulation which had so recently been concluded ; but 
the balance of wrongdoing is on the whole on the side 
of the Emperor. He had distinctly promised to leave to 
the city all its rights over the districts subject to it, 
except over Como and Lodi. But the nobles of Seprio 
and Martesana were discontented with the rule of the 
city, and Frederick was induced to withdraw these 
counties from the jurisdiction of Milan, and to set up in 
them a German Count. He had been crowned at Monza, 
and asserted that this town should be looked on, on this 
account, as peculiarly united to the kingdom, and should 
therefore owe allegiance to the Emperor alone. These 

8 



114 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

proceedings were manifest violations of the treaty, but 
the Milanese had to submit without hope of redress. 

Less questionable but more obnoxious to the people 
were his measures towards the city itself. The treaty had 
guaranteed to them the right of electing the consuls, on 
condition that the election should be confirmed by him. 
But now, relying on the decision of the Diet of 
Roncaglia, that the Regalian rights all belonged to him, 
he held that he was freed from observing this clause, and 
sent. his Chancellor and other dignitaries to the city for 
the purpose of removing the consuls and putting a 
Podesta in their place. The people broke out into a 
tumult at this, and attacked the envoys, so that the lead- 
ing citizens were forced to send them secretly outside the 
walls lest they should fall victims to the mob. All efforts 
at an explanation were now fruitless. The Milanese 
accused the Emperor of violating the capitulation ; he 
made the same charge against them, declaring that they 
had sworn obedience to him, and had, by their consuls, 
made a full surrender of all their privileges to him at the 
Diet of Roncaglia. To this they answered according to 
the German Radevicus : " We have sworn indeed, but we 
have not promised to keep our oath." 

After such a reply, if such indeed was their reply,i no 
accommodation was possible. Frederick was then at 
Bologna, whither he cited the Milanese to appear before 
him to justify their conduct. They did not obey, but 
prepared for new hostilities, and in April, 1159, not eight 
months after the peace, they were once more put to the 
ban of the Empire ; their goods were declared forfeited, 
their city was condemned to be destroyed, and they were 
to be reduced to the condition of serfs. 

The Milanese had expected this, and had themselves 
commenced hostilities. They attacked the castle of 
Trezzo, and took it after a three days' siege, getting 
possession of a considerable treasure which Frederick 

' Hegel believes that this accusation of Radevicus is due to a mis- 
understanding of what the deputies really said. Such disregard for 
the sanctity of an oath is entirely contrary to what we know to have 
been the character of the Lombards at this period. 



MILAN AND FREDERICK BARBAROSSA 115 

had placed in it for safety. The Hves of the German 
garrison were spared, but the Lombards found among 
the prisoners were executed as traitors, and the castle 
destroyed. Then, before Frederick could collect his 
forces, they, with the people of Crema, attacked Lodi, 
while the Brescians invaded the territory of Cremona. 
Both these enterprises, however, were unsuccessful, and 
the Brescians in particular suffered heavy losses. 

Frederick now summoned his German vassals to take 
the field, and contented himself, while awaiting their 
arrival, with making destructive raids on the Milanese 
territory. His energetic Italian policy had already 
gained for him a dangerous enemy and for the Milanese 
a useful ally. 

Already causes had arisen to destroy the good under- 
standing which had existed at first between Frederick and 
the Englishman who, under the title of Adrian IV., then 
held the Papal see. Now, after his first victory over the 
Milanese, the Emperor set about establishing his 
authority over the inheritance of the Countess Matilda. 
Royal legates were sent into Central Italy to demand 
tribute from the cities which the Pope looked on as 
belonging to the Church. To the Pope's protests that 
Frederick was infringing the privileges of the Holy See, 
that the only right possessed by him in the city of Rome 
was that of exacting the tribute called fodrum on the 
occasion of his coronation, and that he had no right to 
the lands comprised in the donation of Matilda, the 
Emperor replied casting doubt on the rights of the Pope 
to any temporal dominion independent of his authority 
and asking how the Pope could deny that he was the 
lawful ruler of Rome since Adrian himself recognised 
him as King of the Romans. With two opponents of 
such inflexible character an accommodation was clearly 
impossible. 

Accordingly Adrian prepared for war. He found a 
powerful ally in the Norman monarchy established in 
Sicily and South Italy, which had lately been consolidated 
by the overthrow of the rival Norman principality of 
Capua. The Emperors had never recognised as legiti- 



116 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

mate the rule of the Normans in the peninsula, and 
Frederick had, on his first expedition to Italy, formed an 
alliance with the Pope, the Greek Emperor, the Prince of 
Capua, and many discontented southern barons, with a 
view to bringing South Italy under his authority. This 
coalition had failed, for the German vassals had refused 
to serve any longer in Italy after his coronation, but 
Frederick had not renounced his designs, so now the 
King of Sicily was naturally led to conclude an alliance 
with Adrian. And now, coming to an open breach with 
the Emperor, the Pope in August, 1159, came to an agree- 
ipient with Milan, Brescia, Piacenza and Crema, by which 
he promised to excommunicate him before eleven days 
had passed. The illness and death of the pontiff in 
September prevented the carrying out of this agreement. 
Frederick, in spite of reinforcements from Germany, 
did not yet feel strong enough to lay siege to Milan. The 
Cremonese took advantage of this to satisfy their private 
hatred against Crema, and by the offer of a large sum of 
money induced Frederick to undertake the siege of this 
steadfast ally of Milan, The town was small but well 
fortified by a double wall and a wide and deep ditch, and 
was well supplied with food. 

The siege began in July and lasted for nearly seven 
months. The inhabitants made a desperate defence, and 
their resistance roused Frederick to acts of ferocity, rare 
even in that age. A certain number of the prisoners 
captured in the preliminary skirmishes were hanged in 
sight of the town ; the citizens retaliated by slaying on 
their walls an equal number of the enemy. Frederick, 
infuriated, executed a large number of the hostages which 
he had previously received from Crema, as well as six 
Milanese who had been captured while on a mission to 
Piacenza. The Italian allies exceeded the Germans in 
acts of cruelty. The Cremonese slew the prisoners they 
had taken and shot their heads within the walls ; the 
townsmen retaliated and mutilated the slain. 

The Emperor had prepared an immense wooden tower 
which he wished to bring close up to the city, in order 
to throw a bridge from it to the walls. To this he 



MILAN AND FREDERICK BARBAROSSA 117 

fastened the hostages of Milan and Crema who were still 
in his hands, children of the most illustrious families of 
these towns, hoping thus to turn aside the storm of missiles 
with which the besieged had hitherto checked the ad- 
vance. The fathers and relatives of these unfortunates 
uttered lamentable cries of despair as the tower advanced 
with its living freight. But one of them lifting up his 
voice — such is the story told by the German historian- 
cried out to his children : " Happy they who die for their 
country," and exhorted them not to fear a death which 
was preferable to seeing the violation of the women and 
the misery of the children of their native city, and to 
witnessing their country fall a prey to the impious hands 
of the men of Cremona and Pavia. 

During this time the engines on the walls were 
keeping up a continuous fire on the tower, which began 
to yield under the blows ; and Frederick, fearing its total 
destruction, gave orders to withdraw it. Four of the 
Milanese, five of the hostages of Crema had been 
slain, and two seriously wounded ; and the chronicler 
has piously recorded the names of these unhappy 
victims. Yielding to the better impulses of his nature, 
Frederick did not repeat this barbarous and useless 
expedient. 

His anger, however, demanded fresh victims ; but the 
prayers of the clergy in his camp, though they could not 
stop all farther executions, at any rate saved the lives of 
the greater part of the intended victims. It must be put 
down to the credit of the Church that, in that barbarous 
age, her hand often interposed to save those whose lives 
the law had declared forfeited. One is forced to admit 
that Frederick, in dealing with his rebellious subjects, 
showed a clemency which we look for in vain in the 
dealings of Alva in the Netherlands or of the English in 
Ireland and in India. 

After more than six months of constant assaults, the 
besiegers succeeded in bringing their towers close up to 
the walls, and in letting fall drawbridges by which their 
best troops advanced to the assault, while bowmen in the 
upper storeys worked havoc amongst the defenders. Yet 



118 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

the besieged maintained their ground and beat off attack 
after attack. Their losses from the missiles of the assail- 
ants were, however, so great that as evening fell they 
abandoned the outer circle of walls, ready to sustain a 
new siege within their interior defences. 

Their losses, however, had been enormous, and on 
reviewing their situation they found that they had little to 
hope for from a further resistance. They sought and 
obtained the mediation of the Patriarch of Aquileia, and 
Henry the Lion of Bavaria, pointing out that if they had 
resisted the Emperor it was because they were bound by 
the most solemn ties to Milan, and because they were 
ready to undergo all extremities rather than fall under the 
power of their deadly enemy Cremona. They were ready 
to accept any conditions from Frederick, provided he did 
not hand them over to the Cremonese. Frederick again 
showed himself clement in the hour of victory. He 
allowed all the inhabitants to leave the city with as much 
property as they could carry with them, and to go wher- 
ever they pleased, while to auxiliaries from Milan and 
Brescia he accorded the like terms except that they were 
to go out without arms or goods. 

The total surviving population of this, one of the 
smallest of the Lombard cities, is said to have amounted 
to twenty thousand souls, amongst which we must no 
doubt reckon a large number of the peasants from the 
surrounding district who had taken refuge within the 
walls. They retired to Milan. The town was burned 
and with its territory handed over to the Cremonese, who 
destroyed all that had escaped the flames, not sparing 
even the churches. 

This long siege had exhausted the time during which 
the German feudatories were bound to serve ; most of 
them now recrossed the Alps, and Frederick, with forces 
too reduced to undertake any serious operations against 
Milan, retired to Pavia. 

The death of Pope Adrian had been followed by a 
disputed election. The majority of the Cardinals gave 
their votes to a Sienese, Rolando Bandinelli, already 
distinguished as a diplomatist, but a minority, backed 



MILAN AND FREDERICK BARBAROSSA 119 

up by a strong party among the nobles and the inferior 
clergy, chose the Cardinal Octavian, a man of violent 
character, who, it seems, was looked on as a friend to the 
Emperor. Frederick at once seized this opportunity of 
asserting the superiority of the Empire over the Papacy, 
and convoked a Council at Pavia, to which he summoned 
the prelates of the various Christian kingdoms, and before 
which he ordered the two competitors to appear, in order 
to have their claims heard and decided on. 

Such an action was, in fact, to go back to the days of 
the Othos, and to reduce the Church to the position of 
servitude from which Hildebrand had freed her. The 
lawfully elected Pontiff, Rolando, who took the title of 
Alexander III., entirely refused to recognise the right of 
the Emperor to interfere in the election ; his rival, known 
as Victor III., on the contrary, presented himself before 
the Council at Pavia. Here his claims were examined, 
and he was recognised as the lawful Pope by the assembly, 
at which few or no prelates were present except those of 
Germany and some of those of Lombardy.^ This was 
followed up by the excommunication of Alexander, and 
ambassadors were sent to secure the adhesion of the 
other Christian sovereigns. 

On his side, Alexander, at Eastertime 1160, excommuni- 
cated Frederick and Victor, and drew close the relations 
between the Holy See and Milan and her allies. The 
Archbishop of Milan, who at the Diet of Roncaglia had 
propounded such extreme views as to the prerogatives of 
the Emperor, now appears as actively hostile to him, and 
not only repeated the Papal excommunication, but added 
to those who fell under its ban several bishops and feudal 
lords and the consuls of Pavia, Lodi, Cremona, Novara 
and Vercelli. A nephew of the Archbishop's had been 
among the Milanese nobles hanged before Crema ; this 
possibly accounts for his changed views. 

The decision of the Council of Pavia had no weight 
outside Frederick's dominions. All the rest of Europe 
acknowledged Alexander, and the Milanese were now 

' From fifty to seventy Bishops, besides Abbots, were present 
according to Von Raumer. 



120 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

assured of the support of that power which had already 
more than once proved itself mightier than that of the 
German Caesars. 

The greater part of Frederick's army had been dis- 
banded after the fall of Crema, and the ensuing year was 
occupied by a desultory warfare, carried on chiefly by 
the forces of Frederick's Italian allies. An attempt by 
Milan and Piacenza to lay siege to Lodi was frustrated 
by the arrival of help from Cremona, and the war re- 
solved itself into a series of mutual raids and attacks on 
castles, in which the fortunes of both parties were pretty 
evenly balanced. 

Only one of the numerous combats recorded by 
Morena deserves mention. The Milanese, with the full 
strength of four of the " portae," or quarters into which 
the city was divided, and some auxiliaries from Brescia, 
had laid siege to the castle of Carcano, which lay on an 
island or peninsula in a small lake in the territory of 
Como. Frederick came to the rescue with the troops 
of Como, Novara, and Vercelli, the Counts of Biandrate 
and of Seprio and Martesana, the Marquis of Montferrat, 
and some soldiers of Pavia. He managed to cut the 
Milanese off from their supplies, and reduced them to 
the alternative of surrendering or cutting their way 
through the hostile army. They chose the latter 
course. The Emperor with his German cavalry broke 
the wing of the Milanese opposed to him. He reached 
the Carroccio, killed the oxen which drew it, overthrew 
the car, and captured the standard of the Commune. 
But on the other wing the Milanese and the horsemen 
of Brescia had overthrown the men of Como, Vercelli, 
and Novara, nearly destroying the contingent of the 
latter city. Then they turned against the Emperor, who, 
outnumbered, had to retreat in haste and shut himself 
up in the castle of Baradello, abandoning his prisoners 
and a great booty. Next day the Lodesans and Cremo- 
nese, who were hastening to Frederick's aid, were de- 
feated. But on the other hand the garrison of the castle 
made a sortie, and burned the machines of the besiegers, 
and the Milanese returned home, leaving Carcano untaken. 



MILAN AND FREDERICK BARBAROSSA 121 

This battle, the first in which the Italians had met 
Frederick in the open, took place in August, 1160. Next 
spring a large force assembled in Germany, and by the 
month of June had reached Lombardy. The Milanese 
had up to now maintained their ground in the open 
country, and the Piacentines had in the preceding March 
inflicted a signal defeat on the burghers of Lodi ; but 
now Frederick possessed such an overwhelming superi- 
ority in numbers — it is said that his army again numbered 
a hundred thousand combatants — that he was soon able 
to overrun the whole Milanese territory, and to cut off all 
food supplies from the city. To add to the distress of 
the townsmen a terrible fire had destroyed nearly a third 
of the city, and consumed the granaries in which most 
of the provisions were stored. Nevertheless the towns- 
men, though completely cut off from their allies of 
Brescia and Piacenza, held out bravely. Vigorous sorties 
were made, in one of which the Emperor himself was 
nearly taken or slain. But famine began once more to 
prevail within the walls ; the poorer classes became 
mutinous ; of the nobles many fled to the Imperial 
camp. At length envoys were sent to propose terms 
of surrender. Frederick demanded an unconditional 
submission, and the leaders of the Commune, forced 
by a popular tumult and seeing that farther resistance 
was hopeless, were compelled to yield. 

Once more the whole population, with ashes on their 
heads and ropes round their necks, came out from the 
walls to prostrate themselves before the Emperor. The 
Carroccio and ninety-four banners were handed over to 
the Germans, four hundred hostages of the chief citizens 
were given up, and the unarmed multitude was sent back 
to the city, there to await the Emperor's decision. He, 
however, guaranteed them their lives, ordering them in 
the meantime to take the oath of allegiance and to 
destroy the gates, and make breaches in their walls. 
More than a fortnight passed before his final orders 
were made known. Then the whole population was 
ordered to leave the city. Many of the wealthier sought 
refuge in the neighbouring towns, the rest were dis- 



122 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

tributed among four open villages, where they con- 
structed huts for themselves, thus undergoing the fate 
which more than fifty years before they had inflicted on 
Lodi. 

On the 25th of March the Emperor with his army 
entered the deserted city through a breach in the walls, 
and made known his final sentence. The city was to be 
utterly destroyed, and the task was entrusted to the neigh- 
bouring cities whom Milan had so long vexed. Lodi was 
to destroy the quarter of Porta Orientale, Como that of 
Porta Comacina, and so the four other quarters were 
assigned to Pavia, Cremona, Novara, and the feudal lords 
of Seprio and Martesana. So eagerly did they perform 
their work of destruction that at the end of six days not 
a fiftieth part of the lordly city remained standing. 



CHAPTER VI 

THE LOMBARD LEAGUE 

The fall of Milan appeared to have firmly established 
Frederick's authority in Lombardy. It might seem that 
with a little prudence he could in a short time have built 
up south of the Alps a power that would enable him not 
only to overcome his opponents in the rest of the Penin- 
sula, but also to reduce to complete subjection the 
feudatories of Germany. 

A little reflection, however, will show that his power 
in Lombardy, in spite of his twice-repeated victory over 
Milan, was built in reality on very insecure foundations. 
The keen-witted Italians cannot have failed to observe 
that the Emperor's success had not been obtained as 
much by his German levies as by the efforts of his Italian 
allies Lodi, Pavia, and the other cities near Milan. These 
cities had served as secure bases for his operations ; their 
territories had supplied him with provisions ; their militia 
had enabled him to maintain the blockade of Milan when 
the German feudatories had completed their time of 
service, and had returned to their homes. But suppose 
that instead of allies Frederick had found the Lombard 
cities united against him, it was plain that he would have 
found it impossible even to reduce the smallest of them. 
With no fortified base, no allies to supply him with pro- 
visions, his army would have melted rapidly away. The 
walled cities could defy the means of attack possessed by 
the Germans, and before they could be reduced by famine 
the feudal levies, if not already dispersed by want of sup- 
plies, would break up of themselves, their term of service 
having expired. 

Such views must have been held by many Lombards, 

123 



124 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

and the greatest prudence would have been requisite on 
the part of Frederick in order to prevent any fresh 
quarrels, and, above all, to give no occasion for any league 
against the Germans between the various communes. 

Unfortunately for Frederick's aims this prudence seems 
wanting in his action. He seems to have looked on his 
triumph as complete, and to have taken no pains to make 
the restored Imperial authority acceptable in Lombardy. 

In August, 1 162, Frederick returned to his dominions 
north of the Alps, where he was busied in a fruitless 
attempt to induce the French monarch to declare for 
the Antipope. Before his departure he had appointed 
governors with the title of Podesta, Germans or Italians 
devoted to his cause. To Pavia, Lodi, and Cremona he 
left their old institutions ; but elsewhere, alike in cities 
such as Como and Novara, which had eagerly supported 
his cause, or in those such as Parma and Padua, which 
had never displayed any hostility to him, as well as in 
those which had actively opposed him, he did away with 
the Consular government and set up officials who began 
to render themselves intolerable by their oppressions to 
all the Lombards alike. 

Increased and exorbitant taxation — the landowners of 
Milan had to hand over to their Podesta one-third of the 
third part of the produce which they received as rent 
from the cultivator ^ — forced labour on Imperial castles 
and palaces, outrages against women, denial of justice, 
this was what the revival of Imperial authority brought 
with it for the Italians. 

Besides, differences of national character and institu- 
tions caused constant friction between the German rulers 
and garrisons and the subject populations. Appeals to 
the Emperor or his legates only made matters worse. 
Occasionally an official was removed, to be succeeded by 
one as tyrannical ; more open complaints only led to 
fresh exactions. 

Frederick's return to Italy, after a year's absence, was 

' Besides, every freeman in Milan had to pay 3 solidi yearly ; for 
every yoke of oxen and every oilpress 12 denarii were exacted. 
(V, Raumer, vol. ii. p. 185). 



THE LOMBARD LEAGUE 125 

hailed by the Italians as affording some prospect of relief 
from oppression. The Milanese, men, women, and chil- 
dren, advanced to meet him, in torrents of rain, as he 
passed near their dwellings ; and, throwing themselves 
on their knees, besought his mercy. He seemed moved 
at first, and released their hostages ; but the deputies 
whom he ordered them to send to Monza to submit their 
complaints to his ministers, instead of obtaining relief 
were forced to pay 880 pounds as a gift to the Emperor, 
in honour of his safe return to Italy. 

Frederick indeed made some attempt to improve 
matters. He declared himself ready to hear all com- 
plaints and to remedy injustice. But, as a matter of 
fact,*relying on the decisions of the Diet of Roncaglia, 
he did little to satisfy the expectations of the Lombards. 
Some abuses were remedied ; in other cases the officials, 
who naturally found Frederick more ready to believe 
their statements than those of his late enemies, were able 
to represent their own actions favourably, and to silence 
all complaints as coming from the spirit of sedition. 
One city did indeed obtain from the Emperor a discredit- 
able boon. Pavia asked leave to destroy the fortifications 
of Tortona, alleging that that city had been raised from 
its ashes by the rebel Milanese. Frederick consented, but 
the Pavesans, going further, laid the whole city in ruins. 

The Antipope Victor died in the spring of 1164. 
Frederick saw in his death a chance of ending the schism 
in the Church, and sent orders forbidding a new election. 
But the Cardinals of Victor's party, before Frederick's 
orders reached them, had already chosen as Pope Guido 
of Crema, who took the name of Paschal III. The 
Emperor, naturally averse to making a complete sur- 
render to Alexander, and hoping ultimately to persuade 
the rest of Christendom to accept a Pontiff devoted to 
his interests, accepted their choice, and the schism con- 
tinued. The German prelates acknowledged Paschal, 
but elsewhere he met witH no support. Up to now many 
conscientious men in Italy and elsewhere had looked on 
Victor's claims as having some appearance of justifica- 
tion. But Paschal's election and consecration had been 



126 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

carried out in a highly irregular fashion, with the result 
that opinion in Italy veered round almost altogether to 
the side of Alexander. 

As well as with the active hostility of the Pope, and the 
increasing discontent of the Lombards, Frederick had to 
cope with other and dangerous enemies. Chief of these 
was the King of Sicily, against whose dominions Frederick 
had long been meditating designs of conquest. 

The Greek Empire was at this period experiencing one 
of those revivals of power and influence which form such 
a marked feature in its history whenever a strong line of 
rulers was on the throne. Manuel Comnenos, the then 
Emperor, had turned his attention to Italian affairs, and 
had made a vigorous effort to regain those possessions in 
Southern Italy which the Normans had won from his 
predecessors. Foiled in this, he now turned towards 
Central and Northern Italy, hoping to take advantage of 
the confused political circumstances in those provinces 
in order to win a footing in some of the seacoast cities. 
Since the Crusades it could not be a matter of indiffer- 
ence to the Emperor of the East what pontiff reigned in 
Rome. The King of France won Manuel over to the 
side of Alexander. There was a natural jealousy between 
the rival Caesars of the East and of the West ; and 
besides, Frederick, if firmly established in Lombardy 
and Southern Italy, might prove a more dangerous 
enemy than the Normans. All these causes rendered 
Manuel disposed to unite himself to Frederick's adver- 
saries. 

He found an instrument to his hand in the Venetian 
Republic. This State, grown wealthy through the 
Crusades, had established its power firmly in the Upper 
Adriatic. It had been allied with the Greeks against the 
Normans, but had made peace with the latter in return 
for extensive commercial privileges. It thus served as 
a link between the two formerly hostile powers. The 
Venetians could not view with indifference the establish- 
ment on the mainland of a strong power such as Frederick 
aimed at setting up. They, too, had recognised Alex- 
ander, and were ready to give ear to the efforts made by 



THE LOMBARD LEAGUE 127 

Manuel to excite them against Barbarossa. From all 
sides the storm was gathering round the Emperor. 

There had already been tumults in some of the Lom- 
bard cities. In Bologna the Podesta had been murdered, 
and his body flung from the windows of his house into 
the street. The Milanese had assassinated one of the 
officials set over them. In Padua the burghers, excited 
by an outrage attempted by the Imperial governor, rose 
and expelled him from the city. 

It was in the neighbourhood of Padua, a part of Italy 
which so far had lain outside the conflicts between 
Frederick and the Lombards, that the movement of 
resistance to the Emperor first took organised shape. 
Manuel Comnenus is said to have sent agents to Venice 
and the neighbouring towns with large sums of money, 
to stir up the Lombards to arms, and the result was that 
the four cities of the Veronese Mark — Treviso, Vicenza, 
Padua, and Verona — united with Venice in a league to 
resist all oppression on the part of Frederick, while 
acknowledging his lawful prerogatives. From the union 
of these cities was to spring the famous Lombard League. 

Frederick, on hearing of this movement in the Vero- 
nese Mark, drew out his forces to re-establish his 
authority. He had scarcely any German troops with 
him, and was therefore forced to rely on the levies of the 
cities which had aided him against Milan. With these 
he advanced against Verona and took some castles in the 
territory of that city. But the confederated cities got 
together an army, and prepared to meet Frederick in the 
open field. The Emperor did not feel strong enough to 
risk a battle ; he found that he could not trust the dispo- 
sitions of the forces under his command, Italians who 
had no personal hostility against the cities of the Mark, 
and who were many of them no longer favourably dis- 
posed towards himself. He deemed it more prudent, 
therefore, to retire to Pavia, and to await the arrival of 
more troops from beyond the Alps before undertaking 
any further offensive measures. 

In the meantime he sought to strengthen his position 
by bestowing privileges on Mantua and Ferrara, the 



128 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

cities nearest to the Mark. He also sought to attach the 
feudal lords more firmly to himself by large concessions, 
and took measures to put the castles in his hands in a 
state of defence. Much of his time at Pavia was taken 
up in negotiations with Pisa and Genoa, intended to 
secure naval help from these cities in his projected expe- 
dition against Sicily. Finally, having made matters 
secure, as he thought, in Central Lombardy, he set out 
in the autumn of 1164 for Germany, there to personally 
urge on the levying of an army which would make him 
completely master of Italy. 

But he was now, like his predecessors, destined to find 
what an impossible task it was to maintain control over 
both his Italian and his German dominions, and what a 
danger to the Imperial authority was any quarrel with 
the Roman pontiff. Disorders in Germany, many of 
them originating from dislike to his ecclesiastical policy, 
kept Frederick fully occupied north of the Alps ; and 
two years elapsed before he could once more appear in 
Italy at the head of an army. 

His opponents had made use of this respite in order to 
strengthen themselves. Alexander III. quitting France, 
where he had found shelter for some years past, estab- 
lished himself once more in Rome, and helped by the 
Normans, extended his power over a great part of central 
Italy. The cities of the Veronese Mark secured the 
defiles by which an army from Tyrol must enter their 
province, and extended their authority over the feudal 
lords in their neighbourhood. 

In the rest of Lombardy the cities remained quiet. We 
have a grievous picture of their condition from the pen 
of the staunch Imperialist writer Morena. He says of 
the Imperial Governors : " Unjustly did they exact more 
than seven times that which the Emperor wished, and 
oppressed bishops, marquises, counts, cities, consuls and 
captains, and almost all other Lombards, rich and poor, 
because they knew that no one, through love or fear of 
the Emperor, would dare to breathe a protest ; yet no 
one could endure such a weight without being reduced 
to extremities." He then gives a long list of the par- 



THE LOMBARD LEAGUE 129 

ticular vexations, and continues : " Therefore the Lom- 
bards, oppressed more than I have said, they who were 
accustomed to Hve at ease, and without any restriction of 
their freedom to dispose as they Hked of their own affairs, 
held this new and hard servitude as the greatest of dis- 
graces, saying amongst themselves that it was better to 
die than to endure that great shame, that great infamy. 
Yet, however, they delayed always to take violent 
measures to change this manner of life, or to do or plan 
anything evil, nor was there any Lombard, as far as I at 
any rate saw, or heard from others, who took any 
measures to avenge himself, for they ever daily expected 
the arrival of the Emperor, saying one and all, ' We do 
not believe that what evil and shame the officers of the 
Emperor work on us, that they do according to the will 
of the Emperor.' " 

At length, in the autumn of 1166, Frederick set out 
towards Italy at the head of a great army. The passes 
from Tyrol into the Mark were closed against him by 
the Veronese ; he, therefore, took a side route, branching 
off from the main Brenner road and descended into 
Central Lombardy by the Val Camonica. It is signifi- 
cant of the extent to which general oppression had 
stilled old enmities and excited a common feeling of 
hostility to the foreigner, that Brescia and Bergamo, long 
at deadly feud, were now alike opposed to the Emperor, 
who ravaged their territories impartially. Even Cre- 
mona itself, up to now so faithful, seems to have taken 
up an attitude of hostility. 

So far, however, the cities proceeded to no overt acts. 
Frederick halted at Lodi, where a great crowd of sup- 
pliants from all classes and from all parts presented 
themselves before him imploring relief from the exac- 
tions of the officials. At first, on hearing their com- 
plaints, the Emperor showed himself touched by them ; 
but at length, according to Morena, " as if despising the 
complaints of the Lombards and holding them of no 
account, he did nothing in the matter." 

This treatment brought the exasperation of the Lom- 
bards to the highest point ; but for the moment they 

9 



130 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

were powerless against the great force at the Emperor's 
command. Having completed his preparations, Frederick 
set out on his march towards Rome. He had determined 
on concentrating all his efforts with a view to making 
himself master of that city, and then proceeding to the 
conquest of South Italy. Part of his army advanced 
through Tuscany ; and the Pisans and Genoese had 
promised their co-operation by sea. The Emperor him- 
self took the way of the Via Emilia towards Romagna, 
meaning to threaten the borders of the Norman kingdom, 
and then advance on Rome through Central Italy. He 
seems to have calculated that once Alexander and King 
William of Sicily were conquered, he could deal at leisure 
with the cities of the Veronese Mark. This calculation 
was no doubt sound except in one point ; he had com- 
pletely overlooked the possibility that the confederacy 
begun in the Mark might extend itself over the rest of the 
Valley of the Po. 

But this was what actually happened. The oppressions 
of the Imperial governors increased still more when 
Frederick had quitted Lombardy, until finally, towards 
the end of February, 1167, the three cities, Cremona, 
Mantua, and Bergamo, united with their former enemy, 
Brescia, to devise measures to free themselves from the 
yoke now grown intolerable. Inspired by the example 
of the cities of the Trevisan Mark, and, urged no doubt 
by their emissaries, they bound themselves to resist all 
oppression, and not to submit to any burdens more than 
they had been accustomed to during the century previous 
to the death of Conrad III. 

The first congress, a secret one, seems to have taken 
place at Bergamo ; a few days later another was held 
at Cremona, at which representatives from the Milanese 
were present. The hard fate of Milan had excited 
sympathy even amongst those cities which had been 
her most inveterate enemies ; a common oppression had 
drawn all Lombards together to resist the foreigner, and 
so the Milanese were gladly received as members of the 
League. 

Finally, on April 7th, another meeting was held 



THE LOMBARD LEAGUE 131 

at the monastery of Pontida, on the borders of the 
territories of Brescia and Bergamo ; the League was 
again solemnly sworn to ; and a determination was 
taken which would infallibly plunge the confederates 
into war with the Emperor, nothing less than the 
decision to rebuild Milan and restore its scattered 
citizens to their homes. 

This last meeting, and the decision arrived at, could 
not long remain secret. The Pavesans and the Imperial 
Governor, the Count of Diez, seemed likely to forestall 
the confederates by falling upon the Milanese left without 
means of defence in their four villages. These latter 
now experienced the same agonies of fear which years 
before they had inflicted on the inhabitants of Lodi. 
Some of the inhabitants of Pavia were connected by 
ties of friendship with leading Milanese, and to these 
they sent warnings that their total extirpation was con- 
templated. Even if their lives were spared, their homes 
were to be laid waste and their property seized. Terrified 
by these messages, some of the more wealthy sent their 
goods for safety to Como and Bergamo, even to Pavia 
itself, others fled with what they could carry off ; the 
multitude expected at any moment the advance of a 
ruthless enemy. 

At length, on April 27th, a troop of horsemen was 
seen advancing towards the village of San Dionigi. 
Terror gave place to joy when they were found to be 
ten knights of Bergamo bearing the banners of that 
Commune, and followed by its citizens in battle array. 
Then came the banners of Brescia, then of Cremona, 
and the forces of these cities. The Milanese assembled 
from their villages, and all proceeded joyfully to the 
desolate site of Milan. Here the citizens and their allies 
set to work to restore the ditches and rebuild the city 
walls. The work of rebuilding their houses was left 
until the more pressing needs of defence had been 
provided for. The confederate forces, among which 
apparently are to be counted representatives of Mantua, 
Ferrara, and the cities of the Trevisan Mark, remained 
until the city was once more in a condition to resist 



132 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

attack. Universal enthusiasm speeded on the work ; 
the women gave their jewels to adorn the restored 
churches, and in a short space of time Milan had once 
more taken its place among the cities of Lombardy. 
Some of the gates erected on this occasion and adorned 
with rude sculptures remain to this day, memorials of 
the uprising of a people against its oppressors. 

While these events were taking place in Lombardy, 
Barbarossa was in Romagna engaged in establishing his 
power over the cities of that province. It is curious 
that we possess scarcely any account of his proceedings 
during this period, nor of the motives which caused him 
to spend more than six months in this part of Italy 
without either advancing against Rome or taking measures 
to check at once the commencements of the Lombard 
uprising. 

The League was rapidly gaining strength. Piacenza, 
Parma,! and Ferrara joined it, and the Imperial officials 
seem to have been expelled without difficulty from the 
confederated cities. 

After the rebuilding of Milan it became of supreme 
importance to the League to win over to their cause 
Lodi, which from its situation between Cremona and 
Milan would enable the Emperor to drive a wedge 
between the members of the League, and would, as in 
previous campaigns, give him a secure basis of operations 
against Milan. 

The Cremonese, as old allies of the Lodesans, were 
charged with the task of winning them over to the 
general cause. Twice their deputies proceeded to Lodi 
to entreat the burghers no longer to give aid to the 
oppressor of the Lombards, and to join the League 
which aimed at winning back the ancient privileges 
of the cities. But their entreaties, urged even by the 
deputies on their knees, could not overcome the feelings 
of gratitude of the Lodesans. To them Frederick was 
the restorer of their city, the protector of their freedom 

' Parma apparently not without some resistance, for the Chronicon 
Parmense declares that in 1 167 the " Milites Parmenses " defeated 
Piacenza, Cremona, Brescia, and Mantua. 




Milan. 
Porta Ticinese, 



To Jacc page 132, 



THE LOMBARD LEAGUE 133 

against the ambition of the Milanese ; they declared that 
the confederates were traitors to the sovereign for whom 
they were resolved, if necessary, to sacrifice their property 
and their lives. 

Stronger methods were now tried. A last embassy 
threatened the city with destruction and its inhabitants 
with death. But these menaces could not shake the 
constancy of the men of Lodi, who declared that they 
could never believe that their former allies and pro- 
tectors of Cremona would now join with their enemies ; 
but that even if this were so they would still hold fast 
to their oath of fidelity to the Emperor. Upon this the 
allied cities advanced their forces and shut in Lodi on 
every side. The burghers defended themselves for a 
time with courage ; but food began to fail ; they saw 
their territory devastated ; no help came from Frederick ; 
and, yielding at last to force, they submitted and joined 
the League. 

From Lodi the army marched against the Castle of 
Trezzo, and took it after a stout resistance, obtaining 
possession of much treasure which Frederick had de- 
posited there as in one of his chief strongholds. 

Towards the beginning of July Barbarossa took the 
offensive. He seems to have believed that he might 
safely neglect the affairs of Lombardy until he had 
entirely subdued the Pope and the Normans. Deprived 
of these allies, the Lombards, so it seemed to him, would 
neither dare nor be able to resist his arms. 

Instead of at once attacking Rome he first turned against 
Ancona. This important port had lately grown powerful 
through extensive commerce. Its trade with the East 
brought it into close connection with the Greek Empire ; 
and the citizens had lately acknowledged the authority of 
Manuel Comnenus, and had received a Greek garrison. 
It seemed to Barbarossa highly dangerous to leave un- 
taken in his rear a city from which Greeks or Normans 
might easily intercept his communications with Romagna, 
and which afforded Manuel a foothold from which to 
extend his influence over Italy. 

He therefore laid siege to Ancona, which offered a 



134 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

vigorous defence. At the end of three weeks, however, 
both parties were incHned towards a compromise. 
Ancona gave hostages as a pledge of neutraHty, and 
a large sum of money ; and Frederick hurried on towards 
Rome. Here he met at first with complete success. The 
part of the city lying round St. Peter's was taken after 
a brave defence ; and the Romans, who had up to now 
given a vigorous support to Alexander, were detached 
from his cause by negotiations. The Pope, after holding 
out for some time in the fortresses of the Frangipani in 
and around the Colosseum, escaped from the city and 
fled into the territories of King William of Sicily, and 
Frederick and the Antipope Paschal entered Rome in 
triumph. 

Frederick and his consort were once more solemnly 
crowned ; and it seemed as if the conquest of Naples and 
Apulia was only a matter of time. But an unexpected 
disaster shattered all his hopes of victory. Owing to the 
prevalence of malaria the neighbourhood of Rome is 
extremely dangerous in summer to foreigners, and even 
to natives. Besides this, the heat of the Italian summer 
requires, in order to preserve health, a moderation in eat- 
ing and drinking, of which the German invaders of Italy 
have at all times shown themselves incapable. The 
month of August which followed Frederick's entry into 
Rome was extremely hot ; a sudden torrential rainfall 
was succeeded by even greater heat. The result was 
a devastating pestilence, which, in the space of a 
week, carried off an immense multitude of soldiers, 
and which seemed to that age the direct vengeance of 
Heaven for the attack on the Holy City and the lawful 
pontiff. 

Frederick's great army was annihilated. Eight Bishops, 
Duke Frederick of Swabia, son of the Emperor Conrad, 
Duke Welf the younger of Bavaria, six Counts, more than 
two thousand knights, besides an immense multitude of 
the common folk, were carried ojff. Of the survivors, 
some, in expiation of their sins, embraced the monastic 
life, others abandoned the army, and sought to escape to 
their homes, others were so weakened by disease that 



THE LOMBARD LEAGUE 135 

they were henceforth useless. ^ Nothing was left to 
Frederick but to retreat to the more healthy climate of 
Tuscany, leaving a garrison behind him to protect the 
Antipope. By September he was in the neighbourhood 
of Lucca, having lost two thousand more troops on the 
march, and with no force left to face the army of the 
Lombard League. 

The direct road over the Apennines, from Lucca to the 
valley of the Po, leads up the valley of the Magra to a 
pass which is commanded by the small town of Pontre- 
moli. The inhabitants of this place, aided by the 
Lombards, held the pass in force ; and the Emperor, 
unable to force his way through, was only saved from 
destruction by the help of the Marquis Obizzo Malaspina, 
lord of extensive fiefs in the mountain districts. Under 
his guidance the remnant of the Imperial forces was led 
through difficult side roads amongst the mountains, and, 
not without loss, arrived at Pavia. 

Frederick now summoned all his loyal subjects to meet 
him in this city with all their forces, in order to chastise 
the Lombards. The call was answered only by Como, 
Novara, and Vercelli, the Marquises of Montferrat and 
Malaspina, the Count of Biandrate, and the Lords of 
Belforte, Seprio, and Martesana. The assembly took 
place towards the end of September ; and Frederick, 
casting his glove on the ground, declared his purpose of 
chastising the revolted cities, and put them to the ban of 
the Empire. From this decree were excepted only Lodi, 
which had yielded to force, and Cremona, which the 
Emperor hoped either to win back to her former loyalty, 
or to make an object of suspicion to the rest of the 
confederates. 

A war of raids and skirmishes now began, in which the 
territories of Milan and Piacenza suffered considerably. 
But Frederick, with his scanty forces, could not venture 
on any important move against his opponents. Their 
strength was increasing every day. New cities had joined 

' Amongst those who perished special mention must be made of 
the historian Acerbus Mofena, and of the warlike Archbishop of 
Cologne, one of Frederick's most talented and devoted servants. 



136 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

the League, including the powerful Bologna. Frederick's 
menaces only had the effect of inciting the Lombards to 
a closer union, and of merging into one the confederacies 
of the Veronese Mark and of Lombardy proper. In 
December the Societas Lombardise, as the confederates 
called themselves, renewed the oath of association, and 
took measures to define the objects for which they were 
striving, and to provide for internal union. Besides the 
four cities of the Mark and Venice, this oath was sub- 
scribed by the deputies of Milan, Bergamo, Lodi, 
Cremona, Brescia, Mantua, Ferrara, Bologna, Modena, 
Parma, and Piacenza. 

As Frederick found that with the troops at his disposal 
he could make no head against his opponents, he deter- 
mined to recross the Alps to gather a new army. In 
March, 1168, he set out secretly with only a few followers, 
and took the road over Mont Cenis. He carried with him 
some Lombard hostages. One of these, a Brescian noble, 
he hanged at Susa, the last town on the Italian side of the 
pass. The townsmen, irritated by this, and encouraged 
by the small numbers of Frederick's followers, took up 
arms, and forced him to release the remaining prisoners. 
It is even said that some of them formed a plot to murder 
him, and that his life was saved only by one of his 
nobles, who, the plot having been discovered, took his 
master's place, while the latter fled in disguise with only 
five followers. In this manner did Barbarossa, his plans 
of conquest shattered, arrive once more in his German 
territories. 

The affairs of Germany once more retained Frederick 
beyond the Alps, and this time for nearly seven years. 
The League had, then, an unequalled opportunity to 
extend and consolidate its power. Como, Novara, and 
Vercelli now abandoned the Imperial cause, so did the 
Lords of Seprio and Belforte, and Oberto Malaspina. 
Asti, too, gave in its adhesion, and Tortona was restored 
by the men of Parma and Piacenza, and the inhabitants 
brought back to their homes. Tortona, of course, now 
joined the League, and of the towns of Romagna, Ra- 
venna, Rimini, Imola, and Forli followed this example. 



THE LOMBARD LEAGUE 137 

The object of the confederates, as appears from the 
oath of association, was to free themselves from the 
obHgation " to pay tributes or render services greater than 
those which they had given or rendered from the time of 
the Emperor Henry ^ to the entrance of Frederick." 
With this end in view the cities swore to make neither 
peace nor truce without the common consent, and to 
prevent any army from beyond the mountains from 
entering Italy, and if such should enter, to make war 
until it had repassed the Alps. The League was to last 
for fifty years, a common army was to be always ready, 
the contingents and contributions of each city were to be 
settled in proportion to its resources. No private enmities 
were to be permitted between city and city, and all cases 
of dispute were to be arranged by the League. To con- 
duct the common affairs deputies from each city formed 
a body of magistrates, who, under the name of Rectors, 
formed the executive authority, and decided on measures 
affecting the general safety. 

Immediate results of this organisation were the settling 
of disputes of old standing between various cities. Milan 
renounced all claims to a supremacy over Como, Lodi, 
and Novara ; Brescia and Cremona settled boundary dis- 
putes, and so on in other cases. The unfortunate burghers 
of Crema alone seem to have reaped no advantage. As 
a concession no doubt to Cremona, they were not restored 
either to their city or to their independent existence. 

It will be seen, however, that no real organised 
federation was established. The League remained a 
mere confederation of independent cities, bound together 
by a common danger, but united by no regular constitu- 
tion, and without any central body to which each member 
had parted with some of its sovereign rights. It was 
impossible that it could have been otherwise in that age. 
The idea of the Imperial power was too deeply rooted in 
the minds of the Italians of the twelfth century for them 
to have any notion of independence. They were not 
fighting against the Imperial prerogatives ; they did not 
aim at freeing Lombardy from a foreign yoke ; their 
' Apparently Henry V. 



138 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

object was merely to restrain the sovereign within the 
Hmits of what they conceived to be their legal rights. 
Once these were conceded, they were, on their side, ready 
to declare themselves faithful subjects of the Emperor. 
It was not until nearly a century and a half later that we 
find in Lombardy, and still more in Tuscany, men who 
dared to limit their allegiance to a mere verbal acknow- 
ledgment of the Imperial supremacy. 

And, besides, to establish a regular federative constitu- 
tion would have meant the surrender of some or all of 
the very things for which they were fighting — liberty to 
make peace and war, freedom from outside interference 
with their own concerns, freedom, too, from taxation 
imposed by an outside body. The spirit of particularism, 
the jealousy between city and city was too deeply im- 
planted in the Italian mind to make at this junction any- 
thing more than a loose temporary union possible. 

For the moment, however, this organisation sufficed. 
The ever-faithful Pavia and the Marquis of Montferrat 
remained almost the sole supporters of Frederick between 
the Alps and the Apennines, and they could not hope 
long to resist the superior forces of their enemies. To 
isolate them from one another, and to oppose an obstacle 
to invasion from the West, the confederates determined 
to found a city at a spot where the junction of the Tanaro 
and the Bormida offers great facilities for defence. In a 
marshy plain, whose heavy soil offered obstacles to the 
heavy cavalry of the age, the forces of Milan, Cremona, 
and Piacenza marked out a site of which the strategic 
advantages have been proved time and again in subse- 
quent Italian campaigns. To this place the inhabitants 
of five neighbouring villages were transported, houses 
were built for them, fortifications marked out. Many 
considerable families from the various cities of the 
League were induced to take up their residence there, a 
Bishopric was founded, and the new bulwark against 
aggression received the name of Alessandria, a fitting 
mark of respect from the Lombards to the Pontiff who 
was the patron of their association and their most 
efficient ally. So rapidly did the new foundation grow 



THE LOMBARD LEAGUE 139 

that two years after its foundation Alessandria was able 
to take part with fifteen thousand men in a campaign 
against Montferrat. 

The Lombards now attacked Frederick's remaining 
supporters. Biandrate was taken and its castle rased by 
the burghers of Novara, Vercelli, Milan, Lodi, and Brescia. 

Next came the turn of Pavia. We have no details of 
the campaign against this steadfast city ; but in or about 
1 170 it too was forced to enter into the League. Two 
years later the Marquis of Montferrat, defeated in battle, 
had to yield up lands and castles to purchase peace, and 
to swear that he would be obedient in all things to the 
Rectors of the Society of Lombardy. 

It was no doubt during this period that the subjuga- 
tion of the feudal lords in the Lombard plain became 
complete. The restoration of the Imperial authority 
had meant for them freedom from the yoke which the 
cities had already imposed on them, so that they were 
naturally inclined to range themselves on the side of 
Frederick ; though we learn from Morena that they too 
had suffered from the oppressions of the Imperial officers. 
Unfortunately for us no contemporary Lombard writer 
was inspired to write the history of the struggle of his 
compatriots for freedom. The history of the Morenas 
ends with Frederick's withdrawal across the Alps, and we 
have to depend on German or ecclesiastical writers and 
the bare chronicles of Sire Raoul of Milan and Bishop 
Sicard of Cremona for our knowledge of the later phases 
of the war. We would wish to have some idea as to the 
personality of the men who dared to plan a general 
uprising against the Emperor, of the statesmen who 
reconciled the jarring elements of the League and gave 
unity to its councils. We feel sure that many stirring 
incidents, sieges of castles, campaigns against the feudal 
lords, would have been worthy of our attention ; but all 
knowledge of this kind is unhappily lost to us. We only 
know that by 1174 the authority of the League had been 
extended over all the feudal lords from Turin to the 
Venetian sea-coast, that the Marquises of Montferrat, 
Malaspina, and Este, the Counts of Biandrate and 



140 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

Camino, not to mention many other less powerful nobles, 
had all sworn to obey the commands of the Rectors of 
the League. 

One incident of this period, a discreditable one, has 
been preserved to us. Como took an opportunity to 
wipe off her old scores against the inhabitants of Isola. 
Probably the islanders had not joined the League ; at 
any rate the men of Como made a descent on the island 
in 1 169, and completely destroyed the town. Of nine 
churches only one was left, and those of the inhabitants 
who escaped the sword were obliged to abandon their 
homes and settle at Varenna in the territory of Milan. 
The island has remained uninhabited to this day ; a rich 
vegetation covers the site where once rose houses and 
towers, the home of a hardy race of warriors ; and the 
deserted spot preserves among one of the fairest scenes 
of Italy the memory of the implacable enmities which 
once distracted the peninsula. 

The interval between the subjugation of Pavia and 
Montferrat and Frederick's reappearance in Italy was the 
most flourishing period of the League. Thirty-six towns, 
great and small, in Piedmont, Lombardy, Emilia, the 
Veronese Mark, and Romagna were enrolled in it ; and in 
all the wide valley of the Po there were no feudal lords 
who dared to remain on the side of the Empire.^ In the 
rest of Italy, however, the Imperial authority was still 
strong. The powerful Genoa had been won over to 
Frederick's side by lavish concessions ; and an attempt 
of the Lombards to coerce the city by forbidding all 
export of corn from Lombardy to Liguria was of no 
avail, although the inhabitants of the two Rivieras 
suffered for a time from famine. Tuscany, except the 
allied cities of Pisa and Florence, was obedient to the 
Empire ; and these two cities were not moved so much 
by hostility to Frederick as by the enmity which existed 

" Asti, Alba, Acqui, Alessandria, Tortona, Bobbio, Vercelli, 
Novara, Milan, Lodi, Pavia, Como, Bergamo, Brescia, Cremona, 
Mantua, Piacenza, Pontremoli, Parma, Reggio, Modena, Ferrara, 
Verona, Vicenza, Padua, Treviso, Feltre, Belluno, Ceneda, Venice, 
Bologna, Imola, Faenza, Ravenna, Rimini, San Cassiano (Lanzani, 
p. 256). 



THE LOMBARD LEAGUE 141 

between Pisa and Genoa. Frederick's Legate in these 
parts, Archbishop Christian of Mainz, who had succeeded 
in passing with a small body of followers from the Alps 
to the Genoese territory in ii7i,and had then established 
himself in Tuscany, found himself soon in a position to 
raise a considerable army. His power extended from 
Tuscany over a large part of Romagna, the Duchy of 
Spoleto, and the Mark of Ancona. 

Manuel Comnenus still maintained his hold on the city 
of Ancona, and no doubt aimed at extending his authority 
over Central Italy from this base. He had even hopes of 
obtaining from the Pope and the Italians the crown of 
the Western Empire. With this object in view he kept 
up a close connection with the Lombards and the Pope, 
sent large sums of money to the Italians, and concluded 
an alliance with Pisa. He had not, however, succeeded 
in keeping the friendship of the Venetians. Commercial 
disputes had led to an open quarrel between Venice and 
the Greek Empire, in the course of which the fleet of the 
former had inflicted great damage on the islands of the 
Archipelago, until its progress was arrested by a destruc- 
tive pestilence. Christian of Mainz considered that this 
rupture gave him a favourable opportunity of seizing 
Ancona, and putting a stop to all danger of a further 
extension of Greek influence in Italy. 

Venice was still allied with the Lombards, but feared 
the growing commercial prosperity of Ancona, and so 
was led to listen favourably to Christian's overtures. In 
the spring of 1174 the latter advanced with a large army 
raised in Central Italy and attacked Ancona by land, 
while a Venetian fleet cut off all communication on the 
side of the sea. 

We need not enter into the details of this siege. With 
the sieges of Tortona, Crema, and Alessandria it offers 
another example of the heroism of which the inhabitants 
of the Italian Communes were capable in the defence of 
their liberties. At the same time it shows the weakness 
of the Lombard League for combined offensive action. 
It was most important to the confederates that this city 
should not succumb to Christian's arms, yet no concerted 



142 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

effort was made for its relief, and it was due to the 
exertions of a leading nobleman of Ferrara, Guglielmo 
Marchesella, that an army was at length got together in 
Lombardy and Romagna, which, combined with the 
forces of the Countess of Bertinoro, compelled Christian 
to retire at a moment when the city had been reduced 
to the last extremity through hunger. 

Frederick, in the meantime, had at last brought the 
affairs of Germany into a satisfactory state and had 
collected an army for a new invasion of Italy. The 
Lombards, by the adhesion of Como to the League, had 
command of all the passes leading direct from Germany 
over the Alps. The more open country on the north- 
eastern frontier of Italy was defended by the fortified 
cities of the Veronese Mark ; and Frederick if he had 
chosen this route would have found himself far from all 
possible allies. But the north-western angle of the 
peninsula was still open to him. The Count of Savoy, 
firmly planted on both sides of the Alps, held the roads 
over the Mont Cenis and the neighbouring passes ; and 
his authority extended on the Italian side over the flat 
country of Piedmont as far as Ivrea and Turin. These 
cities, held in check by such a powerful lord, had not 
made the same progress towards freedom as the other 
communities of Lombardy. They had never entered the 
League, and the latter, feeling no doubt its weakness for 
offensive warfare, had never made any attempt to bring 
this region under its control, and so secure all the 
entrances into Lombardy. 

Frederick, then, entered Italy on this side in October, 
1 174. 1 Crossing the Mont Cenis, he burned Susa in 
revenge for the insult received from its townsmen when, 
more than six years before, he had passed through it as 
a fugitive. Turin received him without opposition, and 
he found himself in possession of a friendly country as a 
base for further operations, and in touch with his allies 
the Genoese and the numerous feudal lords of Piedmont. 
Pavia and Montferrat, as soon as they heard of his 

' Frederick's return to Italy almost coincided with the raising of 
the siege of Ancona (Leo, vol. ii. p. 96). 



THE LOMBARD LEAGUE 143 

approach, broke away from the League, and joyfully 
returned to their former allegiance. 

With a large army he advanced on Asti, the most im- 
portant city in all that region. The confederates exhorted 
the burghers to resist, promising help ; but the townsmen, 
terrified by the strength of the hostile army, or, as the 
Lombards believed, secretly inclined in Frederick's favour, 
surrendered with scarcely a show of resistance. From 
Asti the Imperial army, swollen by the contingents of 
Pavia and Montferrat, directed its course on Alessandria. 

Though six years had elapsed since the foundation of 
this city, it had not yet been fortified with solid walls 
and towers. A ditch and a hastily constructed rampart 
formed its only defences ; ^ and this slender fortification 
joined with the lowly aspect of the houses, most of which 
were thatched with straw, excited the derision of the 
Imperial host who named it " the town of straw," a title 
which the heroism of its citizens has made into one of 
honour with succeeding ages. Frederick hoped that he 
would easily make himself master of this city, which had 
been founded in direct opposition to his interests. 

The courage of the townsmen made up for the weak- 
ness of their fortifications. They had, indeed, at first 
thought of flight, but a torrential rainfall, which laid 
under water the marshy district round the city, seemed 
to them a direct interposition of Heaven in their favour, 
and encouraged them to resist. A direct assault failed, 
and the burghers, sallying forth, captured the machines 
of the besiegers and forced them to fly to their camp. 
Frederick, in spite of the murmurs of his followers, did 
not abandon the siege on account of this check. Autumn 
merged into winter ; the season was of unusual rigour : 
the marshy ground bred disease amongst the troops, and 
still the siege went on. Both sides displayed the greatest 
resolution ; both sides, too, mingled acts of devotion 
with deeds of cruelty such as had marked the siege of 
Crema. The swampy nature of the soil rendered siege 

' According to the life of Pope Alexander III. by the Cardinal of 
Arragon, there were no walls or towers. Of the other authorities 
some agree with this statement, others differ from it. 



144 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

operations difficult ; but after nearly six months of siege 
hunger began to prevail inside the city. 

With the approach of spring the Lombards determined 
to make a vigorous effort to relieve their allies. A large 
army was assembled near Piacenza, and set out, followed 
by a great supply of provisions, towards the beleaguered 
town. On hearing of its approach Frederick determined 
on a final effort. His engineers had driven a mine right 
into the heart of the city ; and, on the night before Good 
Friday, when the besieged were trusting to the sanctity 
of the day, or, if we may believe contemporary writers 
hostile to the Emperor, were reposing on the security of 
a truce offered by Frederick himself, a chosen band of 
warriors made their way through it into the great square. 
But the alarm was soon given, the burghers flew to arms ; 
of the assailants some were slain by the sword, others 
flung themselves from the ramparts, the rest were 
smothered in the mine through the falling in of the roof 
and the inflow of water from the city ditch. ^ Then the 
townsmen, encouraged by this success, threw open the 
gates, and led, as they believed, by St. Peter on a white 
horse, flung themselves on the hostile camp. A wooden 
tower filled with soldiers ready to be drawn to the final 
assault was set on fire and all in it destroyed, and the 
burghers worked havoc among the engines of war and 
even in the camp of the assailants. 

In the meantime the Lombard army had reached the 
neighbourhood of Tortona. Frederick, with his weakened 
army, saw himself forced to raise the siege. On the 
following night he set fire to his camp, and set out 
towards Pavia. His road led him close to the con- 
federates, who, greatly superior in numbers, barred his 
progress. Neither party would risk a decisive action. 
The majesty of the Imperial name had still such weight 
with the Lombards that they did not dare to be the first 
to join battle. On the other hand, the Emperor was 
loath to begin an unequal combat. He encamped, there- 
fore, close to the enemy, without making any hostile 
move against them. Next day moderate men of both 
' This seems to be the meaning of Romuald of Salerno. 



THE LOMBARD LEAGUE 145 

parties came forward with proposals for a pacification. 
They were welcomed by each side, and the bases of an 
agreement were settled. Six arbitrators were chosen, 
three by each party, who were to decide on the points 
of variance between the Emperor and the Lombards, 
who each promised to abide by their decision. The 
arbitrators were to bring about an agreement by the 
middle of the next May ; in the meantime the Emperor 
was to proceed undisturbed to Pavia, and the Lombards 
to retire to their homes. 

Both parties had now great hopes of peace. A large 
part of Frederick's troops returned home ; and he himself 
invited the Pope to send legates to find a means for a 
final pacification between Church and State. In the 
meantime the Emperor's affairs were prospering. Como, 
which had joined the League only through compulsion, 
now declared for Frederick, and so the direct route 
between Lombardy and Germany was once more opened 
to him. In Romagna, Imola, Faenza, Ravenna, Rimini, 
and the small town of San Cassiano had been members 
of the League. But Romagna like Lombardy was dis- 
tracted by jealousy between city and city. Imola, for 
example, was constantly at variance with Bologna and 
had apparently only joined the League after a series of 
defeats at the hands of her rival. Christian of Mainz, 
after his unsuccessful siege of Ancona, had turned his 
attention to Romagna, and with the help of Forli and 
other towns, of the feudal lords, who still for the most 
part in Romagna had not fallen under the yoke of the 
cities, and of troops from Tuscany, was soon able to 
make himself master of the greater part of the province, 
to bring Imola, Faenza, and Rimini over to the Imperial 
party and to harass the territory of Bologna. Nearly 
all Central Italy as far as Rome was now obedient to 
Frederick, and he had at last succeeded in bringing 
about peace between his allies Genoa and Lucca and the 
Pisans, and in attaching all three cities to his cause. 
Besides, he had hopes of inducing Cremona to return to 
its old allegiance. The forces of that city had been so 
slow in setting out to join the army got together for the 

10 



146 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

relief of Alessandria that they had only reached Piacenza 
when the Lombards, after their truce with Frederick, 
were returning home. This slackness was deemed by 
many to be due to a want of loyalty to the League 
amongst the consuls of the city ; and though the people, 
indignant at what had happened, rose in riot, pillaged the 
houses of the consuls and deposed them from their office, 
the Lombards had begun to regard the city with sus- 
picion. Frederick now increased this by naming the 
consuls of Cremona as final arbitrators in case the six 
commissioners for peace could not agree. 

All these causes combined to make Frederick still put 
forward high pretensions at the congress which followed 
at Pavia. Yet his attitude towards the Papal legates 
whom he had invited to assist at it was, as far as forms 
went, most conciliatory. In substance, however, he was 
less accommodating, and it was soon found that the con- 
flicting pretensions of all parties could not be reconciled. 
The Lombards demanded complete amnesty for the past, 
and terms which practically amounted to the entire 
abolition of the decrees of the Diet of Roncaglia and the 
recognition of all the privileges which they had enjoyed 
under Barbarossa's three predecessors ; while yielding 
on their side provisions for the Imperial army when the 
sovereign marched to be crowned at Rome and military 
service from the holders of fiefs. 

Frederick, on his side, demanded that the cities 
should abide by the decisions taken at Roncaglia, 
merely promising to correct abuses. Between Pope 
and Emperor, too, no terms of agreement could be 
arrived at. The former, indeed, seemed no longer to 
associate his cause so closely with that of the Lombards, 
but Frederick's demands before consenting to a recon- 
ciliation were so high — at least according to the ecclesi- 
astical historian — that the legates declared their consent 
to them impossible, and the whole negotiations were 
broken off. 

HostiUties were therefore once more renewed. The 
Lombards attached the territories of Como and the 
other allies of Frederick ; he laid waste the lands of 



THE LOMBARD LEAGUE 147 

Alessandria, while awaiting a new army from beyond 
the Alps. At the other extremity of the Lombard plain 
Christian of Mainz again took the field and captured San 
Cassiano, after which he inflicted considerable damage 
on the Bolognese. 

An unexpected difficulty came to weaken the help 
which the Emperor was expecting from Germany. 
Henry the Lion, head of the House of Guelf, Duke of 
Bavaria and Saxony, and the most powerful of the 
German vassals, refused to obey the Imperial summons. 
An interview between the two at Chiavenna failed to 
induce Henry to return to his obedience, even though 
the Emperor fell on his knees before him in the 
endeavour to shake his purpose. Once more the impos- 
sibility was shown of controlling at once his dominions 
north and south of the Alps, and it seemed better to 
the Emperor to take no measures against Henry and 
to concentrate all his forces against the Lombards. 

In spite of Henry's defection, a considerable army 
was collected in Germany ; and coming down through 
the passes of the Grisons into the territory of Como, 
was joined by the Emperor in that city. -- 

At the head of this army and of the burghers of 
Como he set out through the territory of Milan, in 
order to effect a junction with the Pavesans and the 
Marquis of Montferrat. The Milanese trembled for 
their safety if the two armies should succeed in joining, 
and marched out with their whole strength to intercept 
the Emperor. With them were the cavalry of Brescia. 
Verona, and all the Mark, five hundred horse from Lodi, 
two hundred from Novara and Vercelli, and about the same 
number from Piacenza.^ Three hundred of the noblest 
youths of Milan were formed into a company round 
the Carroccio, and had sworn to die rather than let 
that sacred emblem of the city fall into the hands of 
the enemy. Nine hundred others, called the Company 
of Death, had in like manner bound themselves to 
conquer or to die. 

' The infantry of Verona and Brescia guarded Milan (Sire Raoul. 
Muratori). 



148 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

The two armies met in the great plain between Busto 
Arsizio and Legnano on the 29th of May, 11 76, a 
day for ever afterwards glorious in the annals of Italy. 
A cavalry skirmish brought on a general engagement. 
At the first shock many of the Lombard horsemen 
fled before the German cavalry ; and some, convinced that 
the day was lost, did not stay their course until they 
reached Milan. But the foot, first throwing themselves 
on their knees for a moment, and invoking the protection 
of their patrons Saint Peter and Saint Ambrose, stood 
firm and boldly faced the enemy. Frederick, at the 
head of his men, pressed on towards the Carroccio. 
Already the battle wavered, the company of the Carroccio 
was for a moment pressed back, and the car seemed lost, 
when the Company of Death rushing forward attacked 
the enemy with fury. The Imperial standard-bearer was 
slain, Frederick himself was thrown to the ground, 
and the cry arose that he was slain. The wavering 
Lombard army rallied, and pressed on in its turn to 
the attack ; the Germans were thrown into disorder ; and 
the Brescians breaking from an ambush turned the 
disorder into rout. 
K The pursuit was urged for eight miles. Many of the 

U Imperial host were drowned in the waters of the Ticino, 
and almost the entire contingent of Como was captured 
or perished by the sword. The Imperial camp, with 
a great booty, Frederick's weapons and banner fell 
into the hands of the victors, together with many noble 
prisoners. The news of the Emperor's death was 
universally believed; the Empress, who had remained 
in Baradello, clad herself in mourning ; and it was 
not until several days had elasped that the grief of 
his followers was turned into joy by his appearance 
almost alone before the sheltering walls of Pavia. 

Great as was the battle of Legnano, in which for 
the first time the citizen militia of Italy had met and 
overthrown in the open field the feudalism of Germany, 
the immediate results of the victory were not very 
striking. Como, indeed, was forced to re-enter the 
League and to submit to severe conditions before 



THE LOMBARD LEAGUE 149 

recovering from the Milanese those of her sons who had 
been taken prisoners. The Lombard army, too, appeared 
before Pavia, but broke up at once to allow every man 
to enjoy his triumph in his own home. But the effect 
on Frederick was great. He realised once for all the 
uselessness of his efforts to subdue the Lombards by 
force of arms, and turned to the surer ways of negotiation. 
His first aim was a reconciliation with the Pope. 
Alexander had long been recognised as Pope by the 
rest of the Christian world ; and Frederick determined 
to renounce all farther effort to depose him from the 
chair of Peter, or to make the indomitable old man yield 
to his pretensions and give up the liberties which the 
Papacy had wrested from the Emperors of the Fran- 
conian line. 

In the October following on the battle of Legnano 
ambassadors were sent to Alexander, and were favourably 
received by the pontiff, who was now growing old 
and anxious to bring peace to the Church before his 
death, and who had no personal animosity against 
Frederick, once he was willing to give up his attempts 
to reduce the Papacy to subjection. 

The main bases of a peace between Church and 
Empire were soon agreed on. The Emperor recognised 
Alexander as lawful Pontiff, and abandoned the Antipope. 
On the other hand, he and his partisans were to be freed 
from excommunication, and a certain number of the 
prelates who he had appointed during the schism were 
to be recognised. But, as the peace was to be a general 
one, and as the affairs of Lombardy and of the King 
of Sicily could not so easily be settled, it was arranged 
to call together a congress to discuss in detail and 
decide once for all the questions which had been the 
cause of the struggle which had so long vexed Germany 
and Italy. 

Frederick now turned to negotiate with some of the 
cities, offering them separately what they were demand- 
ing collectively. Cremona gladly accepted his overtures. 
Old friendship bound the city to Pavia ; the renewed 
prosperity of Milan was reviving the old animosity ; 



150 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

the citizens could not be without some feehng of 
gratitude to the Emperor, under whose banners they 
had taken vengeance on their rival. Frederick confirmed 
to the city all the privileges which it claimed, and the 
Cremonese openly renounced the League. 

More surprising was the defection of Tortona, which 
had suffered so much already at Frederick's hands. But 
its isolated situation, exposed to attack on three sides 
from Frederick's allies, Pavia, the Marquis of Montferrat, 
and Genoa, had no doubt caused it to suffer more than 
most cities from the war ; and the inhabitants preferred 
a reconciliation with the Emperor, which would remove 
from them once for all the danger of another destruction 
at the hands of Pavia, to the uncertain event of continued 
hostilities. Alba and Acqui had by now gone over to 
Frederick's side, so that Alessandria was now the only 
member of the League in this portion of the peninsula. 

In the April of 1177 Pope Alexander arrived at 
Ferrara to confer with the Rectors of the League as 
to the place of meeting with the plenipotentiaries of 
the Emperor, and as to the demands to be put forward. 
The Lombards seem to have feared that the Pope, 
having in view only the interests of the Church, might 
dissociate his cause from theirs ; they clearly gave 
him to understand that they intended to insist on the 
recognition of the liberties for which they had fought, 
and that, as they had been the firmest bulwark of 
the Papacy against the Empire, they now expected the 
co-operation of the pontiff in obtaining the satisfaction 
of their demands. 

The choice of the town in which the representatives 
of all parties were to meet occasioned considerable 
discussion. The Emperor objected to any of the towns 
which belonged to the League, and proposed Pavia 
or Ravenna, cites obnoxious to the Lombards. Finally 
he suggested Venice. Although this proposition was 
at first objected to by the confederates, for Venice, 
once the instigator and a member of the League, had, 
without ever formally breaking with it, taken part for 
Frederick against Ancona, yet, since the Pope and 




Alexander III. Bestows a Sword on the Doge. 
(Bassano.) 



3 face page 151. 



THE LOMBARD LEAGUE 151 

the King of Sicily agreed to it, they finally consented. 
So great was the reverence inspired by the person of 
the Emperor, that the Lombards insisted that the Doge 
and twelve leading citizens should bind themselves by 
oath to exclude the Emperor, from the city until the 
Pope should allow him to enter. It was feared that 
the mere presence of Frederick at the negotiations 
would so overawe the deputies that they would not dare 
to press their claims. 

The congress opened at Venice in May. The peace 
between Church and State had been practically arranged 
already, so that the affairs of the Lombards were first 
entered on. At first the negotiations made but little 
way. Frederick demanded that the Lombards should 
either submit to the decrees of Roncaglia, or take as 
the measure of their privileges those rights which they 
had possessed in the time of Henry IV. 

It was utterly impossible that the cities should agree to 
either of these propositions, which would have deprived 
them of nearly all that they had been fighting for. They, 
on their side, put forward two proposals. They would 
either render to the Emperor all those services which 
they had rendered under his three predecessors, or would 
take as a base of negotiations conditions drawn up by 
the Cremonese, apparently during the negotiations after 
the siege of Alessandria. This last document was now 
produced, but neither party could agree as to the mean- 
ing of the various clauses. Long discussions followed, 
and there seemed no prospect of a settlement. At length 
the Pope, seeing clearly that if matters were pressed to a 
settlement the whole negotiation would fall through, pro- 
posed a truce for six years, during which time the various 
points which were uncertain might be fully investigated 
and cleared up. After further lengthy negotiations, 
during which, by consent of all parties, Frederick was 
allowed to come to Chioggia, within a few miles of 
Venice, the Emperor agreed to this, on condition, how- 
ever, that he was for fifteen years to come to enjoy the 
revenues of the inheritance of Matilda. After these 
fifteen years the rights of both parties to these much- 



152 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

disputed lands were to be settled in accordance with 
justice. The reconciliation of Pope and Emperor 
was to take place at once ; and between Frederick and 
the King of Sicily there was to be a truce for fifteen 
years. 

Both parties were to be secured from mutual injuries 
while the truce lasted ; both were to enjoy security for 
person and goods in the lands of the other ; the League 
was to remain in vigour ; and two magistrates were to be 
appointed in each Commune to provide for any disputes 
which might arise. As soon as the Emperor had sworn 
to the truce, he and his supporters were freed from ex- 
communication, he was invited to leave Chioggia, and 
was escorted with great pomp to Venice. Here, amidst 
scenes of the greatest pomp, the reconciliation of the two 
heads of the Christian world took place. The spot is 
still shown on the threshold of St. Mark's where the 
Pope bestowed the kiss of peace on his late adversary. 
Later writers have distorted the history of these events 
by ridiculous stories of Papal pride on this occasion ; 
but all serious historians are agreed that nothing occurred 
to mar the harmony of the reconciliation, and that Pope 
and Emperor soon became fast friends.^ 

All matters of dispute between Church and Empire 
were now satisfactorily arranged, and a general amnesty 
for the past accorded by both sides. It is noticeable 
that among the prelates received back at this time into 
the bosom of the Church were the Bishops of Padua, 
Mantua, Piacenza, Brescia, and Novara. They had, no 
doubt, followed the party of Frederick, hoping by his 
aid to re-establish their old authority over their cities. 

The solemn promulgation of peace and truce took 
place on August ist, but Frederick lingered on in the 
wealthy and delightful city until September. Great was 
the concourse of prelates and nobles who flocked from 
all parts to the festivities which celebrated the peace. 

' The story that Alexander placed his foot on Frederick's neck, 
exclaiming, "Thoushalt walk upon the asp and the basilisk," though 
consecrated by paintings in the Vatican executed in the time of 
Pius IV., has no foundation in fact. 



THE LOMBARD LEAGUE 153 

The number of knights is said to have amounted to 8,400, 
and Venice, though far from having attained to the 
architectural splendour and the opulence of later times, 
was able to afford entertainment for all, while the well- 
organised government was able to maintain the most 
perfect order in spite of the presence of such a multitude. 

It may not be amiss to give a list of the partisans of 
Frederick and of the members of the League who signed 
the pacification of Venice. On the Emperor's side were 
Genoa and her three dependent allies, Savona, Albenga, 
and Ventimiglia, Turin and Ivrea, which were now 
attaining to a certain independence of the Counts of 
Savoy and of their Bishops ; Asti, Alba, Acqui, the Mar- 
quis of Montferrat and those of Bosco and Vasto, who 
were the chief of the feudal nobles in the Ligurian 
Apennines ; Tortona, Casale, Monvelio, Pavia, Cremona, 
the Counts of Lomello and Biandrate, and, in Romagna, 
Imola, Faenza, Castel Bolognese, Ravenna, Rimini, 
Cesena, Forli, Forlimpopoli, and Castrocaro. The 
League numbered among its members Venice, Treviso, 
Padua, Vicenza, Verona, Mantua, Ferrara, Bologna, 
Brescia, Bergamo, Lodi, Milan, Como, Novara, Vercelli, 
Alessandria, Bobbio, Piacenza, Parma, Reggio, Modena, 
Belmonte, Carnesino, the Marquis Malaspina, and the 
men of San Cassiano and Doccia. 

The six years of the truce passed without any further 
troubles in Lombardy. Our information as to what 
measures were actually taken to investigate what the 
rights of the various cities were is of the scantiest ; it 
appears, however, that Frederick, though scrupulously 
observing the truce, considered himself free to treat 
separately with the individual cities. Thus Como with- 
drew from the League, and received in return the most 
ample concessions, the cession of the Imperial castles of 
Baradello and Olonio, and jurisdiction over all Captains 
and Valvassors in the diocese, including the Valtellina. 

The many changes of side by Como during this period 
give us the first example of the rapid mutations so fre- 
quent in later Italian history. Here, as later, these 
changes were no doubt due to the fact that factions had 



154 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

appeared in the town which alternately gained the upper 
hand, thus inaugurating one of the most striking features 
in the history of the Communes. 

The defection of Como was balanced to some extent 
by the re-entry of Faenza into the League. The Em- 
peror's diplomacy, however, was rewarded by a striking 
success. Early in 1183 Alessandria made a separate 
peace with him. It is hard to see what arguments this 
town, founded in defiance of Frederick, could have 
brought forward at the close of the truce to substantiate 
its claim to stand on the same footing as other cities. Its 
burghers feared the total destruction of the town ; so, to 
make their status secure, they turned to seek the Imperial 
favour.! This was granted them on a rather curious 
condition. On a given day all the inhabitants left the 
city, and at some distance outside the walls were met by 
a deputy of the Emperor, who, on receiving from them 
an oath of fidelity, led them back to their homes, and 
then gave them the right of electing their consuls, and of 
enjoying all the privileges which he had already conceded 
to Tortona and Pavia. In memory of this favour the 
name of the city was to be changed to Caesarea, but this 
name, at first used in legal documents, soon fell into 
disuse, and the city still preserves for us the name of the 
great pontiff, the protector of the free cities of Lombardy. 

Alexander III. had died in 1181. His virtues and his 
abilities make him rank among the greatest of the Popes. 
His zeal never led him into excess, and his constancy in 
adversity and moderation in good fortune enabled him 
to establish once for all the liberties of the Church on a 
secure foundation. 

The truce expired in 1183. Frederick had no desire to 
renew the war ; and delegates were sent by him to a 
congress at Piacenza to arrange a lasting peace. After 
all preliminaries were settled the delegates of the Lom- 
bards proceeded to Constance, where in a great assembly 

' Alessandria was built on ground belonging to the Marquises of 
Bosco. The inhabitants had previously arranged matters with 
them, acknowledging them as their feudal superiors. The consuls 
were to receive investiture from them. 



THE LOMBARD LEAGUE 155 

the peace known as the Peace of Constance, the Magna 
Charta, as it has been styled, of the Hberties of the Com- 
munes, was solemnly promulgated. 

Reflection on Frederick's part as to the dangers of 
once more entering into a contest with the Lombards, 
and the wishes of his son Henry, anxious to be formally 
recognised as King of the Romans, caused him to recede 
from the pretensions which he had put forward at Venice. 
The cities obtained what they had been fighting for. 
They were granted all their customs, and the Regalian 
rights within the walls, and in the dependent districts 
all those which they actually exercised or had exercised 
in the past, namely, the rights of peace and war, of erect- 
ing fortifications, rights to the fodero,^ the woods, pas- 
tures, waters, bridges, and mills, jurisdiction in civil and 
criminal matters. Where the exact extent of these con- 
cessions was uncertain, the matter was to be decided by 
the Bishop, aided by impartial assessors. If they pre- 
ferred not to submit to this inquiry they were to enjoy 
all rights on the payment of 2,000 marks yearly, or less if 
this sum seemed excessive. They were to freely elect 
the consuls, who were then to be invested by the 
Emperor ; and this investiture was to be repeated every 
five years. In those cities where the Bishop possessed 
the rights of the former royal count the consuls were to 
be invested by him. 

On the other hand, all the inhabitants between the 
ages of fifteen and seventy were to take the oath of 
allegiance to the Emperor ; and all Imperial vassals were 
to do homage for their fiefs. The right of appeal in 
cases of the value of more than 25 lire was reserved to 
the Imperial legate for each city, who was to judge in 
accordance with the customs of each. The cities were 
to aid the Emperor in maintaining the Imperial rights 
against all who were not members of the League ; they 
were to pay him the customary fodero on his entering 
Lombardy, and to maintain the roads and bridges and to 

* The /orfro, or fodero, was a tax in money or kind levied to sup- 
port the miUtary forces of the Emperor. In future the Emperor 
was only to receive it when he was actually in Lombardy. 



156 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

supply him with a market. In return the Emperor was 
not to make an unnecessary delay in any city or diocese. 
There were numerous other minor points settled, in 
especial the jurisdiction of Milan over the counties of 
Seprio, Martesana, Burgaria, and others was recognised, 
saving all the rights of Bergamo, Lodi, and Novara. 
There was to be a complete amnesty on both sides for 
the past, and all grants made during the war to the 
detriment of the League were annulled. 

Finally the names were given of the confederate cities, 
seventeen in number, to which these terms were granted. 
With the exception of Venice, Ferrara, Como, and Ales- 
sandria, and the addition of Faenza, they are the same as 
those of the cities given as members of the League at the 
Truce of Venice. Venice, as being an independent state, 
had no need of any concessions ; Como and Alessandria 
had already made a separate peace. To Ferrara a delay 
of two months was accorded, within which term it might 
accede to the treaty. Of the smaller places named as 
members of the League at the Congress of Venice, 
Bobbio and San Cassiano are expressly excluded from 
the Peace of Constance ; the three others are not men- 
tioned. Likewise were excluded Imola, Gravedona,^ 
Feltre, Belluno, and Ceneda. We cannot give any 
reason for the exclusion of Imola and Bobbio ; of the 
others, Gravedona and San Cassiano were small places, 
jurisdiction over which was claimed by Como and 
Imola respectively ; Feltre, Belluno, and Ceneda, which 
are not mentioned at the Congress of Venice, but which 
had at one time been members of the League, seem still 
to have been under the rule of their Bishops. 

Finally, as allies of the Emperor are named Genoa, 
Pavia, Cremona, Como, Tortona, Alessandria, or Csesarea, 
Asti, and Alba. The first six had all received special 
grants from Frederick, so no doubt had the two others. 
We find no mention of the rest of the cities and smaller 
places given in the long list of the Emperor's allies at the 
Congress of Venice, except of Imola and Faenza. Some 

' Gravedona was one of the Tre Pievi of the Lake of Como, and 
all three are probably included under that name. 



THE LOMBARD LEAGUE 157 

of those in Piedmont were no doubt still legally under 
the Count of Savoy or the Bishops ; one can only 
conjecture the cause of the omission of those of 
Romagna. 

The net result of this peace was that the free cities now 
appear as a recognised order of the Italian kingdom. 
They obtained great privileges, yet not greater than were 
enjoyed by the chief German or Italian feudatories. 
The early sovereigns, Prankish or German, had tried to 
rule Italy by Imperial Marquises and Counts. The 
failure of this plan led to an attempt to govern by means 
of the Bishops. They in the confusion of the war of 
investitures lost their hold on the cities ; now, finally, 
these latter, the actual possessors of power, obtain a legal 
recognition of their status. They become great corporate 
feudatories, the equals of any of the feudal Princes or 
Marquises. 

That this new experiment failed to introduce a settled 
government, and to restore the Imperial authority in 
Italy, was due, perhaps, less to the privileges gained by 
the cities than to the renewed weakness of the Empire 
during the contests for the crown which lasted for nearly 
a quarter of century after the death of Henry VI. in 
1 197. For the moment, however, during the remaining 
seven years of the reign of Barbarossa, and the seven 
during which his son Henry VI. held the throne, the 
Peace of Constance seemed to have regulated satis- 
factorily the relations between the Empire and the 
Communes. 

Thus ended this great war. There is perhaps no other 
struggle in the history of the world in regard to which 
the sympathy of the narrator and the reader can be so 
fully accorded to all the contending parties. The great 
figure of Barbarossa — the legendary hero of the German 
race — upholding what he regarded as the sacred rights 
of the Empire ; the steadfast and lofty-minded Pontiff, 
the champion of the freedom of the Church and of the 
liberties of the Communes ; the nameless heroes, with 
their watchword " Liberty," who closed round the war 
car of Milan at Legnano ; the unknown statesmen who 



158 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

planned the League — all alike deserve our admiration and 
compel our respect. 

Of few wars can it be said that they ended in a treaty 
so just and so honourably observed. A few years after 
the Peace of Constance Frederick once more visited 
Lombardy. He came as a loyal observer of the treaty, 
an indulgent sovereign forgetful of wrong done him in 
the past. He was loyally received by the cities, even by 
Milan which had known such evil days through him. 
It was more difficult to avoid friction between Pope and 
Emperor ; yet during the rest of Frederick's life he 
came to no open breach with the Church. Nay more ; 
moved by the capture of Jerusalem by Saladin, the aged 
Emperor once more took the field, this time in the cause 
of Christianity against Islam. He perished, drowned in 
the little river Salef on the confines of Syria, while 
leading an army of ninety thousand men to the rescue 
of the Holy Land. But his people refused to believe in 
his death. Legend and song have made us familiar with 
the belief long cherished in Germany that — 

" Der alte Barbarossa, 
Der Kaiser Friederich, 
Im unterird'schen Schlosse 
Halt er verzaubert sich" 

— that he sleeps in the mountain cavern, awaiting the 
hour of his country's need, to arise and to lead her to 
victory over her foes. 

We should have a higher opinion of human nature if 
we could close our history here. 



CHAPTER VII 

THE CONQUEST OF THE CONTADO AND THE GROWTH 
OF FACTION 

The Peace of Conslance, which expressly recognised the 
right of the Communes to form leagues for the safe- 
guarding of their rights, might have laid the foundation 
of a federation of cities acknowledging the authority of 
the Empire, but possessing autonomy in all eternal 
matters. Such a federation would have been strong 
enough to resist any attack from outside, and it could 
not have failed, during the contests for the throne which 
followed the death of Henry VI., to free itself from all but 
a mere nominal dependence on the Empire, and to build 
up a federal state in the valley of the Po which would 
infallibly have obtained a preponderance over the rest 
of Italy. 

Italian writers have continually lamented that no 
attempt was made to establish such a federal state. 
But in the nature of things no such attempt was pos- 
sible. The conception of a federal union was something 
too high for the newly emancipated Communes of the 
twelfth century. Each city fought first of all for its own 
hand. A common danger had for a moment united the 
Lombards. But the League had never been a real 
federal union. It had been merely an alliance of inde- 
pendent states, which fell apart as soon as the pressure 
from outside was removed. 

The Peace of Constance had even consecrated dis- 
union. It recognised the rights of the cities to make 
war on one another, and it left two hostile con- 
federacies face to face : on the one side Milan and the 

159 



160 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

League, on the other Pavia, Cremona, Como and the 
other Imperialist Communes. 

These confederacies were soon broken up. Neigh- 
bouring cities resumed their own quarrels. Once again 
Brescia fights with Bergamo, Verona with Padua, Parma 
with Piacenza. Once again Italy was filled with strife, 
all the greater now that the Communes were more 
powerful and more independent. 

Frederick kept the peace he had sworn with the 
Lombards. A year or two after the Treaty of Constance 
he revisited Italy, and was well received by the Milanese. 
In return he loaded them with favours, granting them 
all the Regalian rights in the Archdiocese, and in the 
counties of Seprio, Martesana, Lecco, Burgaria, and 
Anghera, in return for the payment of ;^30o a year. 
Such a sudden change of front seems surprising ; but 
doubtless he received large sums in ready-money for 
these favours, and for similar ones which he bestowed 
on other cities. ^ 

On the other hand, his relations with Pavia and 
Cremona seem altered. The influence of the latter 
city had prevented the League from taking any steps 
towards rebuilding Crema. Now Frederick allowed the 
Milanese to restore the town, which was declared inde- 
pendent of Cremona. This latter was exasperated beyond 
measure by this, and even dared to defy the Emperor. 
Unmindful of the services of Cremona in the past, 
Barbarossa laid waste her territories at the head of the 
forces of Milan, Brescia, Piacenza, and other places, and 
granted to Milan a considerable territory lying to the 
north of Crema. By the mediation of Bishop Sicard, 
the chronicler of his native town, a reconciliation was 
effected, 2 and the relations of Frederick with the 
Lombards remained peaceful during the remainder of 
his reign. 

' We know that Piacenza paid ^£15,000, as well as ;^i,ooo to 
the Imperial legates, on the occasion of the Peace of Constance ; 
other cities doubtless paid similar sums. 

= Cremona gave up Gaustalla and Luzzara, places south of the Po, 
part of the inheritance of Matilda which it had forcibly seized. But 
it soon recovered possession. 



THE CONQUEST OI' THE CONTAUO 161 

The next few years saw an ever-increasing hostility 
between city and city. Parma fought Piacenza, Mantua 
fought Ferrara, the cities of the Veronese Mark fell out 
among themselves. The shock to Christendom caused 
by the capture of Jerusalem by Saladin for a moment 
brought about peace, not only in Italy, but throughout 
Europe. A new Crusade was preached, and the Italians 
were conspicuous in their efforts for the rescue of the 
Holy Land. The maritime peoples sent out powerful 
fleets ; the Marquis of Montferrat and many of the 
Italian prelates led forces from the inland cities. 
Cremona, we learn, took a large part in the enterprise. 
A ship was built and equipped by the contributions of the 
burghers, and sailed down the Po to the open sea, laden 
with soldiers and equipment ; and again in 1203 a 
thousand warriors led by Bishop Sicard went from the 
city to Palestine. 

The cessation of hostilities was not of long duration, 
and a few years later a quarrel arose between Brescia 
and Bergamo which involved the greater part of 
Lombardy in war. Both cities had been extending 
their rule over the feudality in their dioceses. Some of 
these sought to preserve their independence by playing 
off one city against the other, putting themselves 
voluntarily under one Commune to escape the encroach- 
ments of the other. From this cause a dispute arose 
between the two cities regarding some frontier castles 
near the Lake of Iseo. Bergamo, complaining of being 
wronged, sought help from Cremona, which was in 
constant feud with Brescia over rights of irrigation and 
navigation on the River Oglio. The latter warmly took 
up the cause of Bergamo, and succeeded — how we 
know not — in obtaining help from eleven other cities. ^ 
While Bergamo attacked the Brescian territory on one 
side, the confederates crossed the Oglio, preparing to 
advance on Brescia, which had Milan for its only ally. 
But the Brescians, a people distinguished above all other 
Lombards for a spirit of obstinate endurance, did not 

' Pavia, Lodi, Como, Parma, Piacenza, Reggio, Modena, Mantua, 
Verona, Bologna, Ferrara. 

11 



162 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

lose heart, and, falling on the enemies before they had 
advanced far from the river, by a skilful stratagem put 
them to rout. The defeated army fled towards the Oglio, 
hotly pursued, and crowded on to the bridge which they 
had thrown over the river. The bridge broke under the 
strain, and of those of the confederates who had escaped 
the sword the greater part perished, swallowed up in the 
mud or carried away by the current. In this, by far the 
most bloody battle which had so far marked the contests 
of the cities, ten thousand of the allies perished, and the 
day was for long known as the day of the Mala Morte, 
or Evil Death. The Emperor, Henry VI., brought about 
a peace in the same year, through which the Brescians 
reaped nothing by their victory. 

Henry was more occupied by his invasion and con- 
quest of the Norman dominions in South Italy, and with 
quarrels with the Popes arising from his encroachments 
on their possessions, than with the affairs of Lombardy. 
With regard to that province he abandoned the policy 
of the later years of Barbarossa, and reverted to that 
pursued in the early days of his father's reign. Instead 
of keeping peace and endeavouring to attach all the cities 
alike by mildness, he endeavoured to uphold his authority 
by means of a faction among them. Thus he was lavish 
in favours to particular Communes — such, for instance, 
as Brescia, Piacenza and Ferrara. But he did not in the 
least care whether these concessions infringed the rights 
of other cities. Thus he gave Pavia extensive rights over 
the waterway of the Ticino, which the Milanese looked 
on as an injury to their interests, with the result that 
hostilities again broke out between the two rivals. 

A grant to Piacenza of rights over the small town of 
Borgo San Donnino brought on a furious struggle 
between that city and Parma, which claimed Borgo San 
Donnino as part of her territory. The old-standing 
quarrel over Crema was renewed when Henry in 1191 
cancelled Barbarossa's decision, and handed over Crema 
and the adjoining district to Cremona. Crema resisted 
by the aid of Milan, whereupon Henry encouraged the 
formation of a league consisting of Pavia, Cremona, 




Henry VI. 

(From a Minnesinger MS. of the 14th Century.) 



To face page 163. 



THE CONQUEST OF THE CONTADO 163 

Lodi, Como, Bergamo, Parma, and the Marquis of Mont- 
ferrat, who attacked the Milanese territory on all sides. 
As Montferrat was at war with Asti and Vercelli, and 
Ferrara with Mantua, all Lombardy was filled with 
confusion. 

The grant of Crema to Cremona was solemnly repeated 
in 1 195, and Crema, with her allies Brescia and Milan, 
was put to the ban of the Empire. This step, joined 
with Henry's preponderance in the central and southern 
parts of the peninsula, excited general alarm, and eleven 
cities renewed the Lombard League as an answer to it.^ 

However, other matters engaged Henry's attention, the 
League took no hostile steps, and next year the ban was 
removed. Como and Cremona made peace with Milan,^ 
and, though feuds between other cities continued, a 
general conflict was averted. Henry's death in 1197, 
and a double election to the Imperial dignity, with a 
consequent civil war, removed all danger from the side 
of Germany. 

The fifty years following on the establishment of the 
Lombard League were a time of rapid growth in the 
power of the cities. By the Peace of Constance they 
had secured autonomy ; they were increasing in wealth 
and population ; they had entirely broken the power of 
feudalism, and now were establishing their authority over 
the whole extent of their respective dioceses. Not only 
the cities, but many smaller communities also, had shared 
in the general movement towards freedom. Some of 
these small communities were formed by associations 
of freemen, or of minor nobles who had no feudal lord, 
and therefore only acknowledged the authority of the 
Emperor or of his representative the rural Count. Others 
were vassals of the Bishops or of the great Abbeys, which 
were extensive landholders. These Church lands had 
not as yet been incorporated into the territory subject 

' Verona, Padua, Mantua, Bologna, Faenza, Reggio, Modena, 
Piacenza, Crema, Brescia, Milan ; also the Tre Pievi of the Lake 
of Como. 

= Crema managed to hold her own against the attacks of 
Cremona. 



164 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

to the cities. Now, in many cases, just as the cities had 
shaken off the Rule of the Bishops, the small country 
towns on Church land forced their overlords to grant 
them charters of self-government, freeing them almost 
entirely from dependence. So in many places the 
vassals of the feudal lords combined together and gained 
their freedom. Thus we read that the inhabitants of six 
villages in the Piedmontese Val di Belbo conspired 
against the oppression of their lords, took their castles 
with the slaughter of the owners, and then, aided by the 
Alessandrians, established the small town of Nizza.^ 

In these various ways a multitude of small Communes 
were established within the limits of the dioceses of the 
greater cities. So we find the Tre Pievi of the Lake of 
Como acting as an independent member of the League 
of 1195. On Lake Maggiore, Intra, Pallanza, Oggebbio, 
Cannobio, all for a time governed themselves by their 
own consuls and popular assemblies.^ In Piedmont 
during the war with Frederick Barbarossa many small 
free communities came into existence, such as Mondovi, 
founded by the inhabitants of four villages, and Chivasso, 
Savigliano, Cherasco — the former built, it is said, by the 
aid of the Milanese.3 Several small Communes of this 
kind are mentioned among the signatories of the Truce 
of Venice — Castel Bolognese, Belmonte, Monteveglio, and 
others. 

Scarcely had these little towns gained their freedom 
when they were exposed to attack from the greater Com- 
munes in whose dioceses they lay. We have already 
seen the inveterate enmity of Como and the Isola 
Comacina, and the fate of the latter. There was a feud 
of a similar kind between Como and the Tre Pievi. 
Galvanus Flamma, a historian of Milan, gives a list 
of four towns in the Archdiocese which had been 
destroyed by the Milanese. 

' In 1234 (Ferrari). 

^ A stone in the Palazzo della Ragione at Cannobio, dated 1291, 
declares that the town then had " merum imperium et mixtum " 
(Boniforti, " II piu bel giro del mondo," p. 118). 

3 So Cuneo, at a later period, was founded under the auspices of 
the Milanese to weaken the lords of Savoy and Montferrat. 



THE CONQUEST OF THE CONTADO 165 

In Tuscany some of these small communities, such as 
San Gimignano and Prato, succeeded in holding their 
own until, in the fourteenth century, they fell, along with 
the greater cities of Arezzo, Volterra, and Pistoia, beneath 
the ever-advancing power of Florence. In Ro magna 
San Marino, perched on its mountain crag, by a strange 
survival has preserved one of these microscopic states 
to our own day. But in Lombardy, where the cities 
were greater than those of Central Italy, the small towns 
were swallowed up one after the other with scarcely an 
exception. Some, such as Borgo San Donnino, made 
desperate struggles for freedom. Placed on the borders 
of Parma and Piacenza, this town for a time managed 
to play one city off against the other. But in 1268 the 
Parmesans took it and rased it to the ground,^ leaving 
nothing standing but the great church, a beautiful 
specimen of Lombard architecture. Pontremoli secured 
a certain amount of freedom by alternately seeking the 
protection of Parma, Lucca, and the Marquises Mala- 
spina. Casale San Evasio gave itself to Vercelli in 1170, 
no doubt as a protection against the Marquises of Mont- 
ferrat. This did not save it from sack by Alessandria 
in 1175.^ Forty-five years later it had shaken off its 
allegiance to Vercelli, and was allied with the Marquises, 
for we find that Casale was then taken by the Milanese, 
who were at war with Montferrat, and that, at the request 
of Vercelli, the whole population was led away captive. 
At a later period, when republican institutions were 
giving way before the rule of despots, Casale gave itself 
to Montferrat, of which state it ultimately became the 
capital. 

The annals of Reggio, the archives of Bologna and 
Alessandria, are full of mentions of the submission of 
small Communes to the cities, or of their forcible con- 
quest. In 1235 Alessandria destroyed Capriata, mas- 
sacring men, women, and children, tearing the dead 

' They had already destroyed it in 1152. 

^ CivaUeri, " Storia di Alessandria," p. 10. In 1193 the Alessan- 
drians again surprised and sacked Casale, but the burghers rallied 
and finally routed them. 



166 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

from the tombs, destroying houses and churches. The 
village of Uxesio, which voluntarily submitted, was made 
a " citizen," and bound itself to build a house in Ales- 
sandria, after the fashion of single individuals who 
received the citizenship. Leaving out the small com- 
munities of Piedmont, we find only Crema which 
succeeded in maintaining its liberty against the preten- 
sions of the city in whose diocese it was situated.^ 

The inhabitants of the small places thus absorbed were 
not, as a general rule, admitted to the citizenship of the 
greater Communes.^ They sank to the position of sub- 
jects, being bound to render military service, and pay 
an annual tribute to the ruling city. But in return they 
were left a very complete autonomy ; they were governed 
as before by their consuls, assisted by a council. They 
passed their own statutes for their internal government, 
subject to the approval of their masters. It is said that 
in Tuscany alone more than five hundred localities had 
their own statutes, which were in force down to the 
eighteenth century, and which are still extant. Some of 
these small communities had others still smaller depend- 
ing on them. Thus Limonta and Civenna had put 
themselves under Bellagio, the place so well known 
nowadays as the centre of the enchanting scenery of 
the Lake of Como, and itself subject to Como. 

As time went on the condition of the small com- 
munities changed for the worse. Their contributions 
were increased as the necessities of the constant warfare 
between the cities demanded an increased outlay. Often, 
too, when the ruling state desired to raise money for an 
exceptional need it imposed an altogether dispropor- 
tionate assessment on the subject country districts, 
Treviso, under the rule of Alberto della Scala, being 
forced to pay him fifteen thousand florins a month, raised 
six thousand from the city and the rest from the subject 

' Piacenza took Bobbio in 1212 and again in 1229. 

^ When Bologna allowed the people of Nonantola to be enrolled 
as part of one of the four gates or quarters into which the burghers 
of Bologna were divided, it was in order to entice them away from 
Modena, which claimed Nonantola as a dependency. 



THE CONQUEST OF THE CONTADO 167 

territory. Como, under the Visconti, was to pay them 
four thousand florins a month and the ValteUine six 
hundred, but Bormio and Poschiavo, instead of paying 
their share as part of the ValteUine, were ordered to make 
up five hundred florins of the contribution due from the 
city of Como.i 

Exactions of this kind brought on constant revolts. 
The ValteUine and the Tre Pievi were perpetually 
struggling to free themselves from Como. 

Such revolts were punished by heavier impositions 
and the loss of much of the local autonomy. In general 
much of the internal freedom vanished during the 
thirteenth century. The cities placed over the subject 
communities an officer, generally one of their own 
nobles, who, with the title of Podesta, or Captain, re- 
placed the former consuls. He exercised his power in 
an arbitrary manner, altering the statutes to suit the 
wishes of the ruling city, and too often using his office 
as a means of enriching himself and his friends. 

So much were the burthens of the country people — 
the villani, as they were called, from the word villa, 
applied to a village — increased, that many of the poorer 
landholders were glad to sell their lands to the officials 
or their friends, and migrate to the cities, or else cultivate 
as tenants the lands they had formerly owned. Others, 
of the richer sort, also sought relief by taking up their 
residence in the cities, and handing over their lands to 
tenants. From these causes there was a great migration 
from the country to the towns. The newcomers, by 
joining the trades guilds, which in the thirteenth century 
were gradually becoming the chief factor in the con- 
stitution of the cities, soon acquired all citizen rights, 
which, it must be remembered, were rigorously confined 
to those who possessed a house and habitually resided 
within the municipal boundaries. The cities rapidly in- 
creased in population in this way. The conservative 
Dante regrets the good old times when — 

' In 1296 a forced loan was raised by Parma of thirteen thousand 
Imperial lire, eight thousand of which were contributed by the 
country districts. 



168 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

"La cittidinanza ch' e or mista 
Di Campi, di Certaldo e di Figghine 
Pura vedeasi nell' ultimo artista."^ 

The La Scalas of Verona, and many of the leading 
families of Florence — the Cerchi, for instance — were 
immigrants of this sort. Ivrea encouraged immigration 
by granting the citizenship to all who owned a house 
within the walls. Milan granted the rights of citizenship 
in 121 1 to all from the country parts who would settle in 
the city and dwell there for thirty years. But the country 
parts suffered beyond measure by the disappearance of 
the small proprietors, the effects of which have lasted to 
this day ; the landowners, instead of living on their 
estates, are, in Lombardy at least, concentrated in the 
cities, and pass but a short time on their properties, while 
the country districts suffer from all the evils of absentee 
landlordism. 

Against this decline of the status of the free inhabitants 
of the country we can put the amelioration of the vast 
mass of cultivators who had been in a condition of servi- 
tude on the lands belonging to the Church or to the 
feudal lords. Almost everywhere the policy of the cities 
was to emancipate these. In many cases they founded 
small fortified towns at strategic points, and encouraged 
the serfs from the surrounding country, and even the 
free tenants of the feudal lords, to settle in them, guaran- 
teeing to protect them against their masters, as well as 
very extensive privileges. 

Thus sprang up the innumerable places with the name 
Borgofranco, Villafranca, Villanova, Castelfranco, &c., 
which are to be found all over Lombardy and Central 
Italy. In 1197 Vercelli decreed that the spot called 
Villanova should remain free and absolute for ever to 
the honour and advantage of the Commune of Vercelli, 
so that no one in future should extort any contributions 
from the inhabitants, nor exercise any jurisdiction over 

' " But in their veins the blood unmingled ran 
(No Campi, no Certaldo, no Figghine) 
Down to the very lowest artisan." 

(Wright's Dante—" Paradiso," Canto XVI, 



THE CONQUEST OF THE CONTADO 169 

them. They were to be fully owners of their houses and 
plots of land, with power of freely disposing of them as 
they pleased. No external authority was to be introduced 
there, except that of the Commune of Vercelli. 

Twenty years afterwards the same city founded Borgo- 
franco. The place was well fortified, and the inhabitants 
received most ample privileges, and exemption from 
taxes for four years, after which they were to pay the 
tax called fodro, like the citizens of Vercelli themselves. 

Ivrea founded Castelfranco in 1250, and transferred to 
it the inhabitants of three neighbouring villages. They 
were to be free from all servitude, " for liberty is a gift 
of inestimable value, nor could it be sold with profit for 
all the gold in the world." They were to be counted as 
if they dwelt in one of the " portae " or quarters of Ivrea, 
were to be free from all the tributes and services paid by 
the subjects of Vercelli, were to have complete internal 
freedom, and draw up a "statute" or code of laws for 
themselves, which the Podestas of Ivrea were to swear to 
respect. 

In 1 221 Bologna invited settlers from other districts, 
and promised the right of being governed by consuls of 
their own choice to every twenty families who would 
found a village in the Bolognese territory. And we find 
similar measures taken by many other Communes such as 
Florence, which, besides many other similar foundations, 
built three towns in 1300, in the Upper Valdarno, to hold 
in check the Ubaldini, and Pazzi, and other lords in that 
region. By these measures the power of the country 
noble was greatly diminished without any direct attack 
from the cities. His plight was worse still if he came 
into open conflict with a Commune. His serfs would 
be incited to rise, and, if the fortune of war turned 
against him, he would be forced as a condition of peace 
to recognise their liberty. Or he might even be deprived 
altogether of part or all of his lands, and the cultivators, 
now free from all personal servitude, would become 
subject to the victorious city. This happened in the 
case of Biandrate in 1199. Novara and Vercelli divided 
up the men of this town and of some neighbouring spots 



170 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

between them. They were freed from all dependence on 
the Count, became vassals of the conquerors, and were 
forced to build houses for themselves in the cities. 
Briandrate itself was rased to the ground, and in later 
times we find the Podesta of Novara obliged to swear 
that he would visit the site twice a year and destroy any 
house he found there, so that the spot might remain 
desolate for ever. The Counts of Biandrate, however, 
still retained great possessions in Val Sesia and Val 
d'Ossola, as well as in parts of Piedmont, and as late 
as 1290 we find them at variance with the Commune of 
Asti.i 

The final step in the emancipation of the serfs was 
reached later. With an enlightenment far in advance 
of the rest of Europe the burghers, passionate lovers of 
liberty themselves, formulated the principle that serfdom 
was contrary to the law of nature. So the different 
Communes took measures to enfranchise all the serfs 
within their jurisdiction. Bologna, the home of law, 
was one of the first Communes to enter on this path. 
In 1256, by a solemn decree of the rulers of the city, all 
the serfs in the territory of Bologna were bought from 
their lords and freed, paying in return a certain quantity 
of corn to the Commune.^ 

Florence followed this example in 1289. The decree 
lays down the principle that every man has a natural 
right to liberty, and goes on to order that, in future, no 
man shall dare to buy, or acquire in any other manner, 
serfs of any kind whatsoever.3 

This rise to liberty of the serfs made up, to a large 
extent, for the loss of the old free proprietors who had 
left the country for the towns. Personal freedom, how- 
ever, by no means implied political freedom, nor did it 
bring with it the acquisition of landed property ; and the 

' One branch, the Counts Biandrate of San Giorgio in the Cana- 
vese, figure frequently in later times in the history of Piedmont. 
They remain to the present day. 

= Those above the age of fourteen were bought at 10 soldi each, 
the rest at 8 soldi (Cantu, p. 383). 

3 Fideles, colonos perpetuos vel conditionales adscriptitios vel 
censitos vel aliquos aUos (Cantu, p. 387). 



THE CONQUEST OF THE CONTADO 171 

communities of emancipated serfs shared, for the most 
part, in the decline of political status which the small 
communities underwent in the later thirteenth and 
fourteenth centuries. 

We have already seen that almost from the moment 
when the cities had organised themselves as free munici- 
palities they had turned their arms against those of the 
nobles of the Contado who did not form part of the 
Commune. Over a great part of Lombardy these had 
nearly all been forced to submission by the time of 
Frederick Barbarossa's first descent into Italy. 

His attack on the liberties of the Communes had given 
the nobles an opportunity of freeing themselves from this 
dependent condition; and so we find the feudal nobles 
— as, for example, those of the counties of Seprio and 
Martesana — on his side in his conflict with Milan. The 
foundation of the Lombard League, and Frederick's 
withdrawal from Italy in 1168, left them more than ever 
exposed to attack. Besides, it would appear from Morena 
that many even of the Marquises, Counts, Captains, and 
other nobles had suffered from the oppression of the 
Imperial officials, and so looked favourably on the 
League. Either on this account, or yielding to force, 
all the nobles of Lombardy had embraced the cause of 
the League before Frederick's return to Italy in 11 74. 
The two chief feudatories of the north-west of Lombardy, 
the Marquis of Montferrat and the Count of Biandrate, 
had, as we have seen, been reduced by force of arms. 
The Malaspinas and the Estensi do not seem to have 
needed this compulsion. The two leaders of the army 
which the League assembled for the relief of Alessandria 
were Ezzelino of Romano, called the Stammerer, lord of 
great possessions in the Mark of Verona, and grandfather 
of the ferocious Ezzelino, whose crimes form such a lurid 
page in the history of the succeeding century, and 
Anselmo da Doara, of a great Cremonese family, which 
has also attained celebrity in the annals of Italian tyrants. 

As Frederick failed in his attempt to destroy the liberties 
of the Communes, and finally had to establish them on a 
more solid basis than before, so the nobles in Lombardy, far 



172 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

from recovering what they had lost in the first part of the 
twelfth century, were now brought much more thoroughly 
under the power of the Communes. All the cities, it 
must be remembered, whether partisans or opponents 
of Frederick, had pursued the same policy towards the 
nobles. All were determined to extend their authority 
over the whole Contado. And Frederick, to conciliate 
the cities which supported him, or to win over to his side 
the waverers, had to legalise their aggressions. 

So he and his successor, Henry VI., forced the nobles 
of the Valtelline, and the rest of the diocese of Como, to 
recognise Como as their feudal superior, just as they had 
once acknowledged the Bishop of that city as their 
Count. He gave Tortona jurisdiction over all the nobles 
of her Contado. So with Pavia. Here we find Henry 
VI. authorising the city to prevent the rebuilding of 
Lomello, the seat of the representatives of the old royal 
Counts of Pavia, who had the same influence in that 
diocese as the Counts of Biandrate had in that of Novara, 
and who were still attempting to assert their authority in 
the city itself. 

When Frederick was reconciled with Milan and her 
confederates he in a like manner recognised the status 
quo. He formally gave the Milanese jurisdiction over 
the counties of Seprio and Martesana, the nobles of 
which had been prominent on his side in the early stages 
of the war, and which he himself had freed from all 
dependence on Milan after the first capitulation of that 
city. And, in addition to this, he conferred on them 
the counties of Lecco and Anghera, of which the 
Archbishops had at one time been Counts. 

Two circumstances combined to render the subjugation 
of the nobles a much easier matter in Lombardy than in 
other parts of Italy. If we exclude Piedmont, there were 
in the first place few really great feudatories in North 
Italy. The Marquis of Montferrat, the Count of Bian- 
drate, the Malaspinas, the Marquises of Este, and the 
lords of the Canavese were almost the only nobles 
holding a large and compact extent of territory. Of these 
the Marquises of Montferrat held their own against the 



THE CONQUEST OF THE CONTADO 173 

cities, though finding it advisable to enrol themselves as 
burghers of Vercelli in 1182, and of Asti at a later date. 
The lands of the Counts of Biandrate were in course of 
time divided among several branches of the family, 
and were gradually absorbed by Novara and Vercelli. 
The Malaspinas, occupying a great tract of mountainous 
country from the frontiers of Pavia to the borders of 
Lucca and Pisa, preserved the sovereignty over portions 
of their domains down to the eighteenth century. The 
lords of Este were forced to acknowledge the supremacy 
of Padua over the northern portions of their lands in 
1 2 13, and to become burghers of that city. But they 
kept full possession of the swampy district known as the 
Polesine of Rovigo ; and, taking advantage of the in- 
testine conflicts in the Mark of Verona, long played 
a leading role in these parts and established their power 
solidly in Ferrara. 

The second circumstance arose from the physical 
configuration of Lombardy. Over a great portion of it, 
including practically the whole territories of Pavia, Milan, 
Lodi, Cremona, and other cities, the level nature of the 
country gave no natural means of defence by which a few 
well-armed men might resist a greater force. In the hilly 
provinces of Tuscany, Umbria, and Romagna, where every 
village and every castle is piled high, a natural fortress, 
on some precipitous hill, and where great feudal families 
had divided up the inheritance of the Countess Matilda, 
or held large continuous tracts as vassals of the Pope, the 
struggle between cities and nobles was far more pro- 
tracted. And being protracted it developed great bitter- 
ness. Numberless instances of atrocities committed by 
the burghers on the nobles in Central Italy might be cited 
in the thirteenth and above all in the fourteenth centuries. 
In Lombardy, on the other hand, instances of such 
atrocities are rare. Almost all such cases in North Italy 
occurred in Piedmont, where the geographical features 
were much the same as in Tuscany. 

The contrast between the geographical conditions of 
the two regions had, furthermore, an important bearing 
on the status of the nobles in each, once they had been 



174 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

subdued and become citizens of the victorious Communes. 
In the great levels of the Lombard plain cavalry had an 
immense superiority over infantry, and cavalry, in the 
citizen armies, was supplied by the nobles and wealthier 
classes generally, who alone could provide the expensive 
equipment of the heavy-armed mounted men of the 
period, and who alone could afford the expenditure of 
time necessary to obtain a mastery over horse and 
weapons. 

So the mass of the burghers could not do without the 
aristocracy of mingled birth and wealth which formed 
the governing class in all the cities during the twelfth 
century. The country noble isolated in his castle, the 
city aristocrat in the narrow streets among a multitude of 
enemies, might be easily enough overpowered. But 
outside the walls the aristocracy united in a body was 
invincible. 

If dissensions between class and class arose within the 
walls the populace by sheer force of numbers might easily 
expel the nobles ; but once in the level open country the 
mail-clad cavalry of the latter formed a force against 
which the citizen infantry were powerless. A city from 
which the nobles were expelled saw its whole territory 
outside the walls lost to it, or exposed helplessly to the 
raids of neighbouring hostile communities. We have 
already seen an instance of this in the early eleventh 
century when the people under Lanzone drove out the 
nobles from Milan. In the early thirteenth century we 
find innumerable examples of the same state of things 
at Piacenza, at Brescia, and again at Milan, to quote only 
a few out of many examples. 

It followed from this that the aristocracy, whether of 
old civic origin, or conquered country nobles, retained a 
far greater influence in Lombardy than they did, for 
example, in Tuscany. There the hilly country enabled 
the feudality to resist the Communes for a much longer 
period ; but there, among a tangle of hills and valleys, 
heavy cavalry was not of much use, and so, once con- 
quered, the nobles were not indispensable to the cities, 
and could do them but little injury if they broke away 



THE CONQUEST OF THE CONTADO 175 

from the Commune in a body. And it is to this cause 
that we may ascribe the complete overthrow of the nobles 
as a political party, and their ultimate exclusion from 
civic rights which is such a curious feature in the history 
of Florence, Siena, and other Tuscan communities. 

There were many cities which had not completed the 
conquest of the Contado by 1183. Brescia, Bergamo, 
Novara, and Vercelli, which claimed jurisdiction over the 
valleys running up to the foot of the High Alps, had made 
far less progress in this respect than the cities whose 
Contadi lay in the plain. Especially backward were the 
towns which lie strung along the old Roman -^milian 
Way, in the district south of the Po, which, from the 
Roman road, has adopted the designation of Emilia. 

The Apennines, which on the south side, towards 
Tuscany, fall somewhat abruptly down to the valley of 
the Arno, sink gradually to the plain on the north, in a 
tangled network of hills and valleys. At Bologna the 
foothills almost touch the line of the great road and the 
city walls, then they draw away in a great curving arc so 
that Modena, Reggio, and Parma lie well out in the plain 
with, in hazy weather, scarcely a glimpse of the hills 
from the walls. At Piacenza, where the road touches 
the Po, the hills are nearer, and farther west they too 
almost reach the river, on the borders of the lands of 
Piacenza and Pavia. In this hill country, much of 
which belonged to the inheritance of the Countess 
Matilda, the feudal lords had maintamed the ground 
more successfully than the rest of their compeers. 

After the Peace of Constance these backward cities 
turned their attention to gaining complete control of 
the Contado. Occasionally they met with checks. 
Reggio was put to the ban of the Empire in 1193 for 
aggressions on the feudality, and the ban was only 
removed on the burghers giving up the castles and lands 
they had won and releasing their owners from the oaths 
they had sworn to the city. The Marquis of Montferrat 
defeated Asti in 1191 and took two thousand prisoners. 

To escape the aggressions of one city the nobles would 
often voluntarily put themselves under the protection of 



176 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

another, its rival. This method of defence added a new 
cause for discord among the cities to those, sufficiently 
numerous, one might think, which existed already. The 
great attack on Brescia in 1191 had its origin in a treaty 
between that city and a neighbouring countly family, by 
which the latter sold three castles in the Contado of 
Bergamo to Brescia, and engaged to expend the money 
in buying lands in the Brescian territory. Another con- 
test was provoked between the two cities when the power- 
ful family of Brusati, lords of the greater part of the 
picturesque Val Camonica, revolted from Brescia and 
put themselves and their castles under the protection of 
her rival. 

The mountainous region of the Frignano to the south 
of Modena, originally part of the lands of the Countess 
Matilda, was held by a number of noble families, descen- 
dants of the officials which she and her predecessors 
had placed over that region. These, to protect them- 
selves from the attacks of Modena or Reggio, had formed 
a kind of confederation among themselves, and aided by 
their remoteness from the cities had preserved their 
freedom down to the end of the twelfth century. But 
after an unsuccessful war with Bologna, on account 
of which Modena had been forced to make large sacri- 
fices of territory, the Modenese sought for compensation 
by a vigorous attack on the Captains, as they were called, 
who held Frignano. These latter had, however, secured 
the assistance of Parma, which sent its forces, with the 
Carroccio, to their help. Modena was near at hand, 
Parma far off, and was, besides, probably not very 
keenly interested in the struggle, since her territories 
nowhere touched on those of Modena. In spite, there- 
fore, of this effort of Parma, the Captains had to submit 
and become burghers of Modena. 

This was in 1205 ; but eight years afterwards we find 
a general revolt of these lords, who handed themselves 
and their castles over to Bologna, between which state 
and Modena there was chronic hostility about a question 
of boundaries. The revolted nobles were subdued, and 
a series of victories over Bologna prevented any help 



THE CONQUEST OF THE CONTADO 177 

coming to them from that quarter. But in 1234 there 
was another revolt, and no less than twenty-three castles 
were handed over to the Bolognese. Henceforward 
both states looked on themselves as lawful rulers of 
Frignano ; and, though Modena again subdued the 
district, it remained for long a bone of contention 
between the two cities, to the great advantage, no doubt, 
of the Captains. 

Numerous conventions between the cities and the 
conquered nobles have been preserved, and give us a 
full insight into the fate of these latter. From them 
it appears that the Communes pursued a uniform policy 
towards the feudality of the country, and one which 
cannot by any means be styled illiberal. Invariably 
the nobles were compelled to swear allegiance to the 
Commune, to build a house within the walls, which 
they were to inhabit for one or two months every year 
in time of peace, and double that period in time of war. 
Their castles were to be at the command of the city, 
they were to do military service, and their vassals were 
to pay an annual tribute to the magistrates. Furthermore, 
they were to keep the roads in their neighbourhood 
open to the commerce of the city. This was a most 
important provision, for it must be confessed that the 
aggressions of the burghers on the feudality were not 
without their excuse. Too often the latter had acted 
as mere robbers, swooping down on the caravans of the 
merchants, and in every case exacting vexatious tolls 
throughout the districts subject to them. In many cases 
it had become a matter of vital necessity to the Com- 
munes to open a safe road for their commerce by 
destroying the castles which impeded the circulation of 
goods along the trade routes. 

In return the cities confirmed the nobles in the 
possession of their lands, promised them help against 
their enemies, admitted them to the citizenship, and 
as nobles allowed them to share in the highest offices of 
the commonwealth. 

Such are the main features of the compacts between 
nobles and Communes. But, naturally, there is an 

12 



178 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

infinite variety in the details. If the noble had only 
been subdued after an obstinate war his castles might 
be destroyed or else permanently garrisoned by the 
Commune. Sometimes he lost part, more rarely all, 
of his possessions. The jurisdiction in matters of life 
and death over his vassals was generally assumed by 
the city ; as a rule in minor matters it was left to the 
lord. But Como, to secure her authority over the unruly 
population of the Valtelline, pledged herself to maintain 
some of the nobles, such as the family of Venosta, in all 
their rights. 

It was only when, in the course of the thirteenth 
century, the rise of a democratic party in the cities had 
brought on an embittered struggle of classes, that the 
feudal jurisdiction of the nobles on their fiefs was entirely 
swept away, and they themselves made subject to the 
ordinary taxes. 

Naturally where the submission of the noble had been 
voluntary the conditions he received were still more 
favourable. He often received a sum of money as a 
compensation for the feudal rights he had surrendered. 
Sometimes the city bought certain of his lands and 
castles, imposing on the noble the obligation of spending 
the money thus received in the purchase of lands and 
houses in or near the city. Sometimes the noble, 
especially a powerful one whose many retainers would 
be useful in war time, received a yearly sum of money 
from the state, so as to induce him to fidelity ; often 
he received additional lands as fiefs. Many lords whose 
possessions were widely scattered became vassals of two 
or even more towns, and then it was expressly laid 
down that in case of war between two such Communes 
they were not to be called on for military service. 

In all this variety of detail one essential fact stands 
out. The nobles received the full citizenship and were 
at once eligible for the public offices. Modena, in 1274, 
even granted to the Captains of the Frignano that at 
least eight of them should always belong to the General 
Council. Milan assigned a definite representation in 
like manner to the feudality of the Seprio. The towns 




A Tower, Mantua. 



To face page 179. 



THE CONQUEST OF THE CONTADO 179 

received an immense accession both of wealth and force 
by the admission of so many new citizens ; and the 
nobles found themselves in a position in the Communes 
sufficient to compensate them for the loss of their old life 
of isolated independence. 

So now we find added to the population of all the 
cities a wealthy and warlike class, impatient of control, 
accustomed to rely on their own efforts, and not to look 
to laws to obtain redress for injury, proud of their birth, 
despising the merchant, born to command, looking on 
all of plebeian birth as their natural subjects. The addi- 
tion of this class had important results. Not only did 
the nobles bring with them from the country their con- 
tempt for the peaceful trader or artisan, but they brought 
in, too, their whole wild life of feud and violence, their 
impatience of all settled order. The houses they built 
in the cities became fortresses, from the lofty towers 
of which the engines of war known to the period could 
pour forth destruction on any assailant. The feuds 
which they had carried on against their neighbours in 
the country were prosecuted with all the more eagerness 
now that they and their rivals dwelt in close proximity. 
The fierce passions, nurtured by habits of absolute 
command acquired on their own domains, refused to 
submit to the trammels of laws laid down by men 
inferior in birth and unskilled in arms. 

In the cities they found, as we have seen, an aristocracy 
— the milites, the descendants of those Captains, Val- 
vassors, and other nobles who had from the first formed 
part of the Communes, or of those families grown rich 
through trade or the acquisition of land, who were able 
to acquire warhorses and heavy armour, and could afford 
the expenditure of time necessary to master their use. 
The newcomers naturally took rank with these men, in 
whose hands lay the direction of affairs. Wealth and 
birth maintained their prestige, even though much of the 
actual power of the feudal lords had been shorn away 
by the Communes ; and so they found it natural to try and 
make up by a gain of influence inside the walls for what- 
ever they had lost by the fate of war in the open country. 



180 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

We still find three classes sharply enough distinguished 
in the cities — the nobles or milites, an aristocracy resting 
their prestige^ as we have seen, either on birth or on 
riches, and now increased by the accession of the country 
feudality; the free, non-noble citizens or popolo, engaged 
in commerce, manufactures, or following certain trades ; 
and finally the plebe or popolo minuto, the lower orders, 
artisans, or others who were excluded from nearly all civic 
rights. It seems quite certain that the struggle against 
Barbarossa had greatly strengthened the aristocracy. 
The people in time of danger would naturally trust 
the direction of affairs to those whom superior acquire- 
ments or skill in war or diplomacy raised above the 
level of the crowd. Those who did their work well 
in one year would very naturally be again chosen as fit 
persons to whom to intrust the safety of the state. 

An echo of this fact in the history of Milan is preserved 
for us in the pages of Galvanus Flamma, a writer, it is 
true, of a later time, and an unsafe guide on consti- 
tutional matters, but who in this instance may well have 
caught some measure of the truth. He says that after 
the restoration of Milan an agreement was made by 
which the artistes, whom he seems to take to belong to 
the artisan class, but who may well have really been the 
members of the trades guilds, ^ were to choose one 
hundred of their number who were to elect, not from 
themselves or from the popolo, but from the nobles, 
twelve consuls who were to govern the city ; but that, in 
the course of time, this agreement was broken, and the 
consuls of one year claimed the right of nominating their 
successors. They thus shut out all pretence of popular 
election, and ultimately hit on the plan that each noble 
parentela ^ should choose one member, and that from the 
number thus chosen (who amounted to one or two 

^ He evidently distinguishes artiste from popolo, but it seems 
much more likely that he is misled by the customs of his own day, 
and that the artistse were really members of the arti or guilds which 
composed the popolo. 

' Parentela = Consorteria, an association of noble families, related 
or not, for purposes of defence, &c. 




Gateway. 

ClTTADELLA. 



face, page 180. 



THE CONQUEST OF THE CONTADO 181 

hundred) twelve consuls were to be selected yearly, till 
all had had their turn, and then the former consuls held 
office again in rotation. 

We see plainly here the first steps towards the establish- 
ment of an oligarchic rule, completely shutting out from 
the government all outside a certain limited number of 
families. This is, in fact, what really happened a 
hundred years later at Venice, where the process known 
as the " Closing of the Grand Council " concentrated all 
power in the hands of an oligarchy, which did not even 
include all the nobles. One is tempted to attribute this 
increase of the power and claims of the aristocracy to 
the influx into the cities of the Marquises, Counts, 
Captains, and other feudal nobles. Despising as they did 
all peaceful occupations, and valuing nobility of descent 
above all else, they looked down alike on the rich 
merchant trading with foreign countries, whose wealth 
allowed him to live with a splendour equal to or greater 
than that displayed by the Captains or Valvassors, and on 
the humbler traders or manufacturers who formed the 
bulk of the popolo. 

The aristocratic prejudices of Otho of Freisingen had 
been shocked by the ease with which men of the lowest 
origin," whom other nations exclude like the pest from 
the more honourable and liberal employments," could 
attain to the rank of milites and to the highest honours. 
To the feudal nobles this state of things must have been 
almost as distasteful as it was to the German prelate. 
And so we find an effort made to establish a close 
aristocratic caste in whose hands the administration 
should be concentrated, to the complete exclusion of 
the non-noble freemen. 

Meantime these freemen had been increasing rapidly 
in wealth and numbers. In spite of constant warfare the 
prosperity of the cities had been steadily growing. 
Their manufactures, especially cloth and the finer kinds 
of metal work, were exported to all the countries beyond 
the Alps ; a share of the profitable traffic with the East 
carried on by the maritime cities passed through their 
markets. If proof of their wealth and enterprise were 



182 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

wanting, we would find it in the extensive banking 
business which at this period the Lombards had 
established throughout Europe. The name Lombard 
Street in London remains still as a memorial to their 
activity in this direction ; and in fact we find the name 
Lombard in somewhat unpleasant prominence as synony- 
mous with usurers in many countries during the thirteenth 
century. ^ Hence new families kept continually rising 
to wealth. So we find in the cities a number of free 
citizens, wealthy, and in theory eligible to office, but in 
practice excluded from the government. 

The numbers of the free burghers had also increased 
enormously. Not only were their numbers swelled by a 
constant inflow of free peasants from the country ; but 
there was also a steady progress in the emancipation of 
the lower classes. As these shook off all remains of 
servitude to Bishop or feudal lord, they united to form 
new guilds, or were enrolled in those guilds the members 
of which were entitled to full burgher rights. At first 
scarcely any had been free burghers except the notaries, 
bankers, and money-changers, merchants, and those 
engaged in certain manufactures. Now we see new 
guilds, tradesmen, workers in various arts, admitted to an 
equality with these. Even many of the artisan class now 
attained the full citizenship, and the number kept 
constantly increasing. In Parma, in 1 215, we find fifteen 
guilds among the popolo, the chief being money- 
changers, clothmakers, and butchers ; in 1253 seven, and 
in 1 261 four additional ones were added. Precisely at 
the time when the rise from the status of popolani to 
that of milites was made difficult, or hindered altogether, 
did a great emancipation of the lower orders take place, 
giving them rank among the popolo. 

This ever-increasing class found itself shut out, to a 
greater or less extent in the different cities, from a share 
in public affairs, although on it fell most of the burthen 
of taxation, and it supplied the great mass of the fighting 
force of the city. So long as the richer families passed 

' We are told that the citizens of Asti first began to lend money 
at interest in 1226. 



THE CONQUEST OF THE CONTADO 183 

automatically into the ranks of the governing class, so 
long as a capable man, no matter what his birth, could 
see before him the prospect of rising to the highest posts 
in the Commune, there had been a kind of safety-valve 
guarding against discontent. But now the multitude, 
shut out from the honours and yet bearing the burdens 
of the state, found natural leaders among its richer 
families — the grassi popolani, as they began to be called. 
Among the families whose wealth had given them a 
place among the city milites, many were suffering from 
the pride of the feudality, who refused to look on them 
as equals. 

With such a condition of affairs a conflict was in- 
evitable. And so, at the opening of the thirteenth 
century, we find conflicts between nobles and popolo 
breaking out in many cities. As early as 1185 we find 
nobles and commons at war in Faenza, and the former 
being expelled besieged the city with help from the 
Emperor. In 1198 we find discord in Milan, which did 
not apparently break out for the moment into open 
hostilities. The city seems to have been split up into no 
less than four factions. The butchers, bakers, and lesser 
guilds in general formed a society called the Credenza di 
Sant' Ambrogio, the popolani grassi had their own associ- 
ation, the lesser nobles formed a party called the Motta, 
while the greater ones had established a union called the 
Societa dei Gagliardi. Similar disorders broke out almost 
at the same period in other towns — Reggio, Padua, and 
Brescia. In the latter the nobles wished to make an 
attack on Cremona and Bergamo ; but the people, on 
whom most of the burthen of these expeditions fell, 
refused ; and, on the nobles persisting in their design, 
broke out into insurrection. The nobles, as usually was 
the case in these struggles, were at a disadvantage within 
the walls where their cavalry could not act. They were 
expelled into the open country, where they easily held 
their own. They called in the help of their late enemies 
of Cremona, and this city, aided by Mantua and the exiles, 
thoroughly defeated the popolo of Brescia, taking their 
Carroccio. The struggle went on with constant vicissi- 



184 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

tudes during the early years of the century, pacifications 
being constantly patched up by ecclesiastics or neighbour- 
ing cities, which were broken almost as soon as made. 
The nobles, brought back by a papal legate, fall on the 
people, who, taken unawares, are partly massacred and 
partly expelled. The victorious nobles, however, quarrel 
among themselves, and one faction recalls the people, 
expelling the hostile party. The struggle was varied by 
the attempt of a powerful country lord, the Count of 
Casalolto, to set himself up as despot ; but this, a foretaste 
of what these struggles were eventually to lead to, was an 
undertaking too much in advance of the age, and the 
Count and his supporters were driven out. A new 
pacification was followed by a fresh outbreak, during 
which the nobles were once more expelled. Brought 
back by the Emperor Otho, they were once again driven 
outside the walls, and this time the mob levelled all their 
palaces. But the city could not exist without the nobles, 
its mainstay in time of war ; and so they once more 
returned, and the exhausted Brescia for a moment 
enjoyed internal peace. 

Similar struggles followed in Cremona — where the 
inhabitants of the new town rose against those of the old 
town, each faction having its own magistrates — in Lodi, 
in Alessandria, in Chieri, and above all in Piacenza. 

In this latter city, which, one would think, would have 
had enough to do to defend itself from the combined 
attacks of Parma, Cremona, and Pavia, the struggle was 
particularly violent.^ From 12 19 to 1236 we find at 
least seven distinct outbreaks, after most of which the 
nobles were expelled from or quitted the city for their 
castles, returning in consequence of victories in the field, 
or by virtue of the good offices of neighbouring cities or 
of the Church, until a victory of the nobles and the pres- 
sure of the war against Frederick 1 1 . brought about a peace 

' In Piacenza the struggle between the two classes began in 12 19, 
when the Commune had made peace with its neighbours, and we 
find the parties again in arms in 1221, 1223, 1225, 1232, 1233, 1234, 
and 1235. In this -latter year the people expelled the nobles and 
joined Frederick II, The nobles returned next year, and Piacenza 
remained hostile to the Emperor till 1250. 



THE CONQUEST OF THE CONTADO 185 

which lasted fourteen years. Each of these expulsions 
was preceded by street fighting, in which the nobles from 
their towers rained missiles on the people, who sought 
the help of fire ; and each victory was followed by the 
plunder and destruction of houses. The parties sought 
help from outside ; the people from Cremona or Parma, 
the nobles from Milan, and the Contado was ravaged by 
each party in turn. 

In these internecine contests the people found an 
organisation ready to their hands in the guilds with 
their officers and revenues. At their head we often find 
a noble, induced to desert his own class through sym- 
pathy with the claims of the popolo, or through ambition, 
or through jealousy of his fellow nobles. The nobles 
looked for help to the unenfranchised mass of the people, 
the plebe, as they are often called, who had not as a rule 
much sympathy with the middle classes who formed the 
popolo. 

One of the most important results of these struggles 
was the widening of the limits of citizenship. But we 
must remember that in no city did the whole population 
ever attain to the full franchise. Even in democratic 
Florence the mass of the operatives in the woollen 
industry were shut out from all political rights as late as 
the year 1378. The revolution, called the Revolution of 
the Ciompi, led to the creation in that year of three new 
guilds — one of the wool workers with nine thousand 
members, the others of dyers, carders, tailors, shoe- 
makers, barbers, &c., with four thousand. But a counter 
revolution led once more to their exclusion ; and we are 
told that towards the end of the republic the government 
was once more so thoroughly concentrated in the hands 
of the middle classes that the full burghers numbered 
less than four thousand out of ninety thousand Floren- 
tines. 

During the heat of the struggle between nobles and 
popolo, however, both parties, especially the nobles, 
sought the support of the lower orders. New guilds 
then were formed, or formally recognised as having a 
right to share in the government. Traces of this gradual 



186 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

extension of the franchise are found in the distinction 
between greater and lesser " Arts " or guilds, with diffe- 
rent rights, found in some cities such as Florence and 
Milan, as well as in the names primo popolo and secondo 
popolo, which denote the admission to burgher rights of 
successive strata of the population. ^ In time one might 
even have had a terzo popolo, consisting of the lower 
orders ; but in Lombardy, at any rate, the rise of the 
despots put a stop to further development in this 
direction. 

The first quarter of the thirteenth century was a period 
of fierce struggle between the classes in many cities. 
The war with Frederick II. restored internal peace. 
After his death the conflict broke out again. 

The second half of the century is, on the whole, marked 
by the triumph of the popolo and the supremacy of the 
arti in the state. In different cities the relative import- 
ance of the various guilds differed. In most the bankers 
and money-lenders and the merchants properly so called 
were the chief. The bulk of the upper middle classes, 
the grassi popolani, belonged to these, and they also 
included many nobles, especially those of the older civic 
nobility. In Florence the Guild of Wool and the Guild 
of Calimala, or importers and refiners of foreign cloth, 
were by far the most influential. In Parma and Bologna 
the butchers were prominent ; in Milan they had but a 
subordinate position. 

Naturally in such a contest the old unity of the Com- 
mune was imperilled. Each party chose its own leaders, 
with councils and financial arrangements modelled on 
those of the Commune. The old consular form of 
government disappeared in the confusion. The city felt 
the need of one single authority to preserve peace, the 
factions felt the same need in order to give unity of 
direction to their efforts. About the year 1200 we find 
the consuls replaced almost everywhere by one single 
magistrate styled Podesta. 

' In Florence there were seven " greater " and fourteen " lesser 
Arts " over and above the popolo minuto, who in 1378 obtained for a 
moment admission to three new Arts. 



THE CONQUEST OF THE CONTADO 187 

This name Podesta was, as may be remembered, the 
title given to the officials placed over the cities after 
the Diet of Roncaglia by Barbarossa to administer 
them in his name. Now that the Communes placed 
the supreme power in the hands of a single indi- 
vidual of their own choice, it was natural to apply this 
name to him. The substitution of one supreme magis- 
trate for the joint rule of the consuls took place in some 
Communes even before the Peace of Constance. It is 
noticeable that the innovation first appears in the Vero- 
nese Mark, among the cities — Verona, Vicenza, and 
Padua — which had been the first to band themselves 
against the Emperor. In most Communes the new 
magistracy makes its appearance in or about the year 

1200. 

At first it was a mere temporary expedient, designed to 
meet some pressing danger from outside or to repress 
some special outbreak of disorder within the walls. 
Hence we find at first the Communes in one year under 
a Podesta, in another returning to the old consular 
government. But soon after 1200 we find the new 
magistracy adopted permanently practically everywhere. 
Sometimes we can clearly trace the variations in the form 
of government to conflicts in the city. 

The Podesta was always a noble, and almost always 
was a " foreigner," i.e., not a citizen of the Commune he 
was called on to govern. He was chosen either by the 
whole body of burghers, or, more usually, by a select 
number elected for that purpose, and was taken from 
some friendly or allied city. The normal duration of his 
office was twelve months, though there were cases in 
which the term was prolonged to two or even three 
years. Towards the end of the thirteenth century, on 
the other hand, we find some Communes in which the 
Podesta held office only for six months. 

In his hands was placed the supreme executive power. 
He was general in the field, supreme judge and main- 
tainer of tranquillity at home. Strict precautions were 
taken to ensure his impartiality in the exercise of these 
functions. He must have no relatives in the city which 



188 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

he was to administer, must not acquire property nor 
contract any relationships within its Hmits. He must 
not bring with him his wife or any members of his 
family. Before accepting office he had to swear to obey 
all the statutes of the Commune, and to agree to strict 
regulations as to his mode of life, and the train of men 
learned in the law, knights, and war horses which he 
was to bring with him at his own expense. While in 
office he must not accept presents, must not eat or drink 
with any citizen, nor hold private intercourse with any ; 
when his term had expired he must remain a certain 
time, and allow his whole conduct to be investigated by 
a special tribunal appointed for the purpose. If their 
verdict was favourable he received the salary agreed on 
beforehand — in Milan 2,000 silver lire, in Forli 70, as well 
as some marks of honour. If he had abused his power 
he was deprived of all or part of his salary. 

Fettered by restrictions as the office was, it yet gave 
its holder immense powers as judge, administrator, and 
general, and afforded the nobles a field in which to attain 
distinction. Hence it was eagerly sought for. We 
possess a book, " Oculus Pastorum " by name, which was 
intended as a handbook for those who sought the posi- 
tion. In it the noble could learn how he should enter 
on his functions, how speak in favour of war or peace, 
how pronounce a discourse in praise of his predecessor, 
how administer justice, and finally how hand over his 
office to his successor. A successful Podesta would 
be summoned by city after city to govern it ; and the 
ever-increasing violence of faction in the thirteenth cen- 
tury offered ample scope to an ambitious man to turn his 
office to his own private advantage, in spite of all restric- 
tions. More than one of the early usurpers of the liber- 
ties of the Communes attained their ends by making use 
of their powers as Podesta. 

The post, however, was not without its dangers. The 
Bishop of Bologna, appointed Podesta by his fellow 
townsmen in 1192, and continued in office for a second 
year, saw himself attacked by a sudden rising of the 
people. His palace was plundered, his friends killed, 



THE CONQUEST OF THE CONTADO 189 

and he himself escaped with difficulty. His successor, 
taken from Pistoia, was equally unlucky. He was seized 
by the nobles, against whom he had shown much 
severity, and who by way of return pulled out all his 
teeth. In Modena, in 1213, the Podesta had his tongue 
torn out. Many were assassinated by a powerful family, 
or fell victims to a sudden insurrection. 

At first the Podesta, within the limits of the city 
statutes and of the oath he had taken, was virtually a 
temporary dictator. He had, however, a council to 
advise him, corresponding to the former consuls, with 
whom were joined perhaps the heads of the chief guilds. 
The Italians were too fully persuaded of the advantage 
of a balance of power not to seek soon to lessen this 
authority. A body was chosen to form the guiding 
power of the state, leaving only executive and judicial 
authority to the Podesta. The members of this body, 
Ancients, Good Men, Rectors or Priors, as they were 
variously called, formed the real administrative power, or 
" Signoria." Their number varied in different Com- 
munes and at different periods, and as a rule bore some 
relation to the wards into which the city was divided. 
Thus at Florence there were at one time twelve " Good 
Men," at another six Priors. They prepared all legisla- 
tive and administrative measures, which they then laid 
before the special council of the Podesta (the old 
Credenza), and if these latter agreed, the matter was next 
submitted to the general council to approve or reject. 
In matters of great importance the whole assembly of 
the burghers, the Parlamento, was consulted ; but as a 
rule only the members of the Signoria and one or two 
others had a right to harangue this assembly, and the 
measures submitted to it must be approved or rejected 
without modification.! 

During the second half of the thirteenth century the 
members of the Signoria were all taken from the trades 

' The rise to power of the middle classes in the thirteenth century 
modified these arrangements, and threw power into the hands of 
two new councils, the special and general councils of the " people," 
from which the nobles were excluded. 



190 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

guilds, and bore a definite relation to the number of 
these. Such were the magistracy of the Anziani at 
Bologna, the Priors of the Arts at Florence, the Nove 
at Siena. 

Since the Podesta originated amidst tumults, it is not 
rare at first to find two or more in a city, at the head of 
rival factions. So in Milan there were three in 1192, 
four in 1213, while the year before there had been twelve 
military tribunes. There were two in Cremona in 1200 
and again five years later. Sometimes when peace was 
made both remained. In this case one would represent 
the whole Commune, the other the popular element. 
From this latter arose a new functionary, the Podesta, or 
Captain of the People, who towards the end of the 
thirteenth century began to encroach on and absorb 
most of the power of the Podesta. 

There were many Communes in which there were 
few or no quarrels between the different classes, either 
because the ruling aristocracy was too powerful to be 
easily attacked, or because the people had been admitted 
at an early period to a sufficient share in the govern- 
ment. ^ But we find these cities torn by feuds of another 
kind, the blame of which must again be laid in great part 
on the country feudality. 

The independent life of the nobles on their fiefs had 
fostered in them an impatience of the restraints of law ; 
and they had learned to look not to legal means, but to 
their own right hands, for the redress of grievances. 
This view, sanctioned by the feudal code in almost every 
country at that age, they brought with them to the cities. 
They continued within the walls the feuds which had 
been started with their country neighbours, they began 
new ones, and carried them on in the streets and squares 
and from the towers of their houses regardless of any 
attempts of the civic magistrates to maintain order. 

' Verona would seem to belong to the first catalogue ; here the 
aristocracy was automatically recruited from the wealthy popolani. 
But the despotism of Ezzelino seems to have rested on the mass of 
the people whom he admitted to privileges hitherto only enjoyed by 
the wealthy. Padua is an example of the second. 



THE CONQUEST OF THE CONTADO 191 

We have a graphic description of the extent to which 
these feuds were carried on in Genoa, a city which has at 
all times been distinguished for the turbulence of its 
population, where the nobles, we are told, disdained to 
appeal to the tribunals to redress injuries done to them, 
and fought out their quarrels in the very heart of the 
city. " The family of Volta, constructing a wonder- 
ful machine, erected a battering-ram attached to the 
tower of Oberto Grimaldi, and to the new tower of 
Oberto Spinola ; and by means of this ram they destroyed 
in sight of every one the new tower which Buldonoso 
had built at the crossways of St. Siro. On their side the 
Dorias erected a machine in the garden of St. Siro, and 
hurled stones at the houses and towers of the Spinolas, 
and of Oberto Grimaldi. The latter erected several 
machines in their turn, and cast stones at the houses and 
towers of the Dorias." ^ 

A similar picture remains to us of the condition of 
Florence : " The numerous towers were some a hundred, 
others a hundred and thirty cubits high, and all, or 
almost all, the nobles had them ; those who had none 
proceeded to build them; they placed balistas, great and 
small, on top, and several streets were barricaded. The 
custom of fighting had developed to such an extent that 
one day they fought, and the next day the combatants 
ate and drank at the same table, discoursing of the valour 
which they had shown against one another the day 
before." 

As time went on hostilities became more rancorous, 
and whole quarters of the cities were devastated by fire, 
which, beginning in the houses of one or the other 
faction, involved the general mass of the citizens in a 
common ruin. Verona was almost completely destroyed 
in 1 172 by a fire started in this way. Again, when the 
Montecchi were expelled from this city in 1206, the 
shops of the merchants were involved in the destruction 
of their houses. A large part of Vicenza was con- 
sumed in like manner in 1194. It would be easy to 
multiply examples of the miseries inflicted on the peace- 
'■ Ferrari, vol. ii., p. 262. This was in 1 194. 



192 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

ful burghers in this fashion. They go far to explain the 
rancour displayed in later times by the trading classes 
towards the noble families who had at one time been 
looked on as the natural leaders of the Commune. 
Innumerable efforts were made to reconcile the factions, 
or at least to lessen their powers of injury. The annals 
of all the cities give instances of solemn reconciliations 
brought about by the clergy or the consuls, consecrated 
by the most sacred oaths, and sealed by marriages 
arranged between hostile families — reconciliations which, 
as a rule, did not endure for a year, sometimes not for 
a single week. Where the party of peace got the upper 
hand for a moment a favourite policy was to reduce the 
height of the towers to a uniform level. In Genoa all 
were cut down in 1196 to 80 feet; in Modena, nearly 
thirty years later, the Podesta is said to have levelled all 
the towers. Albenga, Siena, Florence are still full of 
the massive stumps of towers thus reduced to moderate 
dimensions ; the few which still survive with something 
like their former threatening aspect in Pavia, Bologna, 
and San Gemignano fill us with astonishment, and 
enable us to form some faint idea of the aspect formerly 
presented by all Italian cities. 

Many writers have tried to explain these feuds by 
supposing an antagonism between the original civic 
nobility and the later incomers from the country. This 
may be true in some cases ; but a study of the actual 
divisions among the noble families will show that there 
is no proof as a rule of any such antagonism. A brawl 
at a marriage feast or a banquet, rivalry for the public 
offices between two great houses, an insult, an overbear- 
ing action would start a quarrel which, spreading to kin- 
dred or allied families, might ultimately involve all the 
nobles of the city. A broken promise of marriage gave 
rise to a strife which deluged Florence with blood for 
fifty years, and led to the destruction of one-half of the 
nobility. Out of more than seventy noble families we 
find thirty-nine on one side, the remainder on the other, 
and here the quarrel spread to many families of the 
grassi popolani. 




Towers of San Gemignano. 



ace page 192, 



THE CONQUEST OF THE CONTADO 193 

The cities of the more easterly parts of Lombardy have 
an unenviable pre-eminence with regard to these feuds. 
In the days of the Lombard League there was already 
a quarrel of long standing in Ferrara between the family 
of the Adelardi and that of the Torelli. We will return 
to this contest later on, as also to those which raged with 
peculiar violence in the cities of the Veronese Mark almost 
from the moment when the Peace of Constance had 
removed the check imposed by the struggle against 
Barbarossa. 

To the war of city with city we have now added a 
struggle between class and class within the walls, as well 
as constant feuds between the various noble families. It 
is a picture of confused strife, in which we seek for some 
general principle underlying the struggle — some names 
which, adopted as party cries, would serve as a guide to 
us among the tangled record of factions. Such a principle 
was found in the enduring conflict between the Papacy 
and the Empire, and such names were supplied by the 
rivalry between two noble families of Germany. 

The great House of Welf, Dukes of Bavaria and 
Saxony, relations of the Estensi of Italy, and ancestors of 
the royal House of Hanover, had constantly struggled 
against the predominance of the Emperors, first of those 
of the Franconian line, then of those of the House of 
Hohenstaufen, and so had been naturally led to support 
the Popes in their contests with the Empire. On the 
extinction of the Franconian line a struggle for the throne 
had arisen between Lothair of Supplinburg, supported 
by the Welfs, and Conrad and Frederick of Swabia, 
heads of the House of Hohenstaufen. We have seen 
how both claimants had sought support in Italy, and how 
the recognition of one candidate by Milan had led Pavia 
and her allies to embrace the cause of the other. On the 
death of Lothair, Conrad of Swabia was chosen as 
Emperor, but was opposed by Henry the Proud of 
Bavaria, and his brother Welf. At a battle fought at 
Weinsberg in 1140 between Conrad and Welf, it is said 
that the army of the former used as their warcry the 
name Waiblingen, the name of one of the Hohenstaufen 

13 



194 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

castles, while the opposing army took for theirs the name 
of their leader. From this time forth, it is said, the name 
Waiblingen was used as the rallying cry of the supporters 
of the Hohenstaufen, that of Welf became synonymous 
with the opponents of this House ; and as the Hohen- 
staufen were in general at variance with the Papacy, the 
name of Welf grew to be equivalent with that of defender 
of the Church. 

Such would seem to be the best supported view, though 
it is by no means a certain one, as to the origin of the 
celebrated names which, under the Italianised forms 
Guelf and Ghibelline, have obtained such a widespread 
celebrity, and served as a rallying cry for faction through 
all the most brilliant period of Italian history. The time 
of their first introduction into the peninsula has given 
rise to much discussion. Some would have it that they 
came in at the time of the contest between Lothair and 
Conrad ; but this conflicts with the view that the names 
were first used as party cries in 1140, after Lothair's 
death. Others would trace them to the days of Barba- 
rossa and the Lombard League. Contemporary Italian 
historians seem, however, to have no knowledge of them 
during this struggle. Another widely-spread view is that 
these names were brought into Italy for the first time 
during the civil war which followed on the death of 
Henry VI. in 1197. 

Philip of Swabia, brother of Henry, claimed the throne, 
and was opposed by Otho, head of the House of Guelf, 
who had the support of the Pope.i The war between 
the two competitors dragged on for eleven years. Milan 
and her allies were naturally adverse to the House of 
Hohenstaufen, from which they had suffered so much in 
the past ; the adhesion of Milan to Otho's party would of 
itself be enough to lead her enemies to favour Philip ; 
the various noble factions which were at this period con- 
vulsing the Trevisan Mark would attach themselves to 
one or the other competitor as interest or inclination 
demanded. It is, then, easy to see that the names Guelf 

' Otho was really the second son of Barbarossa's opponent, Henry 
the Lion, but his elder brother was absent in Palestine. 



THE CONQUEST OF THE CONTADO 195 

and Ghibelline would be introduced into Italy, and em- 
ployed one to distinguish the party of Otho and the 
Church, the other to denote the supporters of the House 
of Hohenstaufen. As the animosity between city and 
city increased, as factions grew fiercer within the walls, 
the names spread, and took firm root about the middle of 
the thirteenth century. When Philip's death left Otho 
triumphant the reason for these party names might seem 
to have become extinct. But the internecine warfare in 
Lombardy continued, and was fanned into new vigour 
by the breach between Otho and the Pope. Milan, 
Brescia, and Piacenza were more influenced by their fear 
of the Hohenstaufens than by reverence for the Pope ; 
they clung therefore to Otho. So did certain of the 
nobles of the Mark, who held that the Pope had no right 
to attempt to depose the lawful Emperor. Pavia, Cre- 
mona, and their allies, from of old supporters of the 
Hohenstaufens, rallied to the cause of the Pope's new 
protege, Frederick of Sicily, son of Henry VI. The lords 
of Este, strong supporters of the Church, ranged them- 
selves on the same side, with their faction among the 
nobles of the Mark. All Lombardy was divided into two 
hostile camps, following or opposing the head of the 
House of Welf in his conflict with the head of the House 
of Swabia.i By a curious freak of fortune the Ghibelline 
cause was for a moment (1212) identified with that of the 
Pope, the cities usually hostile to the Empire, Milan and 
Bologna for example, fell under the ban of the Church. 
But this was a mere temporary aberration. Once 
Frederick was established on the throne things drifted 
back to their normal condition. Milan and her allies 
were reconciled with the Pope, though maintaining an 
attitude of disaffection, if not of open hostility, to the 
Emperor. Frederick's party continued to support him, 
even when he became estranged from the Papacy ; and 
once Otho was dead the nobles of Imperialist tendencies 
readily gave him their allegiance. 

By a species of malign fate Frederick drifted, almost 
against his will, into a conflict with the Pope, at the same 

' In 1212. 



196 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

time that he had to deal with a rebelHous movement of 
Milan and her allies in Lombardy. Once more the Pope 
was joined with a Lombard League in a deadly struggle 
against the Empire ; the quarrel was fought out to the 
bitter end, closing only after thirty years with the ruin of 
the House of Hohenstaufen ; and during this period the 
name Guelf was thoroughly identified with the party 
which opposed the Empire and upheld the interests of the 
Church.i 

So the names Guelf and Ghibelline represent, in the 
main, the opposing principles of ecclesiastical or lay 
supremacy. But, together with these broad points of 
difference, there were mixed up many secondary causes, 
which tended to confuse the main issue. The party names 
grafted themselves on to the rivalry between city and 
city, to the strife been nobles and popolo, to the personal 
feuds of noble families. They long survived their original 
causes, and became devoid of meaning, without losing 
their animosity. 

A complete triumph of one or the other party was 
impossible. The Ghibellines admitted the supremacy of 
the Church in spiritual matters ; the most advanced 
Guelfs never denied the rights of the Emperors as 
supreme overlords of Italy. There were Popes who 
strove to reconcile the warring factions, and who excom- 
municated Guelf cities which had expelled their Ghibel- 
lines. There were Emperors who lived at peace with the 
Church.2 In the days of the Emperor Otho the cities 
generally counted as Guelf represent for a moment the 
principle of Imperial supremacy. There were Guelf 
Communes who defied or made war on the Popes. 
Matteo Villani declares, and with justice, that the Guelf 
party "was the foundation, and solid and enduring 
fortress of the liberty of Italy, and contrary to all tyranny, 
so that if any one becomes a tyrant he must of necessity 
become a Ghibelline;" yet we find that Ghibelline Pisa 
and Pavia were quite as tenacious of their internal 

^ Yet neither Rolandino nor Maurisio use the names Guelf or 
GhibeUine. After 1250 they became common in the annals. 
' Notably Rudolf of Habsburg. 



THE CONQUEST OF THE CONTADO 197 

liberties, and as adverse to the rule of a despot, as were 
those Communes which were most pronouncedly Guelf. 
To some extent the Ghibellines were the party of the 
nobles, especially of the feudal nobles who looked to the 
Emperors to safeguard them from the encroachments of 
the cities. Yet in the Trevisan Mark the Estensi, the 
Counts of Saint Boniface, and the Lords of Camino, 
ultimately ranged themselves on the Guelf side, so did 
many of the Conti Guidi of Tuscany, and the Malaspinas 
of Lunigiana. The Guelfs were the party of the popolo, 
above all of the trading and manufacturing middle 
classes, yet both in Pavia and her enemy Piacenza the 
nobles were Guelf, the popolo Ghibelline. 

This complication of secondary causes, joined to the 
fact that the Empire could never aim at the total 
destruction of the Papacy, universally recognised as the 
necessary centre of Christendom, and that the Popes 
could not do without the Empire, to which they looked 
for the preservation of order, will go far to explain why 
no final victory was possible. The nobles could not 
subsist without the trading classes; the latter, in Lom- 
bardy at any rate, could not dispense with the nobles. 
The rivalry of the cities, the conflicts between internal 
factions remained even if Pope and Emperor were for a 
moment reconciled. Did a city uphold one side, its 
neighbour and rival was forced to range itself on the 
other. When Parma went over to the Guelfs in 1247, 
Piacenza became Ghibelline ; Milan in the hands of the 
Ghibelline nobles continued to fight Cremona, now the 
main bulwark of the Guelfs. A momentary triumph of 
one party was inevitably followed by a reaction, as old 
animosities or new discontents sprang into life ; for a 
hundred years the balance between Guelf and Ghibelline 
swings up and down with unfailing regularity, until the 
growth of despotic power put an end to this as to all 
other manifestations of municipal freedom, and replaced 
all the factions arising from the free play of popular 
passions by one dead level of servitude. 

Except in the case of the cities of the Mark, where 
feuds between rival nobles commenced at a much earlier 



198 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

period than elsewhere, we can distinguish two periods in 
the struggle of Guelf against Ghibelline. In the first, 
lasting up to the middle of the thirteenth century, each 
city pursued on the whole a definite policy. Milan, 
Bologna, Brescia, and their allies are consistently Guelf ; 
Pavia, Cremona, Modena, and their friends uphold the 
Ghibellines.i But as faction grew more violent within 
the walls we find rapid and often confusing changes of 
side. There are Guelfs and Ghibellines contending in 
every city, and the triumph of one party is marked by the 
expulsion of the other. Opposed to the Commune there 
appear the "exiles of the Commune," organised as a 
regular state, and awaiting their chance of getting 
possession in their turn of the city, with the help of 
those Communes which were in the hands of their own 
party. 

In many cities these factions were for a long period 
confined to the nobles.^ It has been constantly asserted 
by historians that in this case the Guelfs represent the 
old burgher nobility, the Ghibellines the newer feudal 
element. But if we examine the actual facts we shall find 
that but little can be advanced in support of this theory. 
In Verona the heads of what became the Guelf party were 
the feudal chiefs of the Contado,3 the descendants of the 
former Counts of the city. In Ferrara the majority of the 
nobles were partisans of the Estensi and followed them 
when they broke with the Emperor, and the Estensi 
were the greatest feudal house of the Mark. In Florence 
the leading Ghibelline houses — the Uberti, Lamberti, and 
Amidei — can be clearly proved to have been among the 
oldest families in the city, dating back to before the 
foundation of the Commune. 

The real origin of Guelf and Ghibelline factions in the 
interior of the Communes would seem to be this. We 
have seen that the hostility which almost inevitably broke 

' For convenience I use the words Guelf and Ghibelline here, 
though they were certainly not in general use before 1250. 

^ E.g., Parma, the cities of the Mark, and Florence. 

3 In Verona the Counts of St. Boniface. So in Pavia the Counts 
of Langosco, a branch of the Counts of Lomello. 



THE CONQUEST OF THE CONTADO 199 

out between neighbouring cities had given rise to a 
system of alliances by which all Central Lombardy was 
divided into two great factions, headed respectively by 
Milan and Pavia. When Barbarossa tried to revive the 
Imperial authority in Lombardy, Milan, proud of her 
position as the most powerful of all the Communes, 
resisted him ; her enemies, the weaker party, ranged 
themselves on the side of the Emperor. Hence in 
Milan and the cities allied with her there grew up a 
tradition of hostility to the Empire which threw them 
inevitably on the side of the Papacy. Equally inevitably 
Pavia and her allies embraced the cause of the House of 
Hohenstaufen. We have, then, a period during which 
the cities are arrayed in two hostile camps, one Papal, 
the other Imperial. But we have seen that factions of 
one kind or another arose in nearly every city. The 
weaker party sought for help amongst the enemies of the 
Commune. Thus the nobles of Brescia turned for aid to 
Cremona and Bergamo, the nobles of Milan in 1221 got 
help from Bergamo and Lodi, the popolo of Piacenza 
were aided by Cremona in 1229. The same thing 
happened when the feuds were confined to the nobles. 
Now that the individual feuds between the cities had 
been concentrated around one great principle, the weaker 
faction, whether nobles, or popolo, or a party among the 
nobles, inevitably embraced the cause opposed to that 
which the ruling faction supported. The nobles of 
Milan, at first equally Guelf with the popolo, were forced 
by gradual steps, and almost against their will, to declare 
themselves Ghibelline. In Piacenza, where the nobles 
were the stronger party, the popolo sought help at first 
from Cremona and Parma, then openly, in 1235, em- 
braced the Imperial party. The Uberti and their fol- 
lowers in Florence definitely became Ghibelline in 1246, 
when they saw a chance of becoming masters of the city 
by getting the assistance of the German troops of 
Frederick II. In this way, then, and not on any a priori 
grounds, must we explain the introduction of the Guelfs 
and Ghibellines into every city ; and this alone will 
account for the fact that while in Milan and Brescia the 



200 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

4 

Ghibellines represent the party of the nobles, in Pavia, 
Piacenza, and apparently in Ferrara and Mantua, they 
represent the party of the popolo ; ^ while in Parma, Asti, 
and many other cities the middle classes were for long 
indifferent to the factions, attending only to the imme- 
diate interests of the Commune.^ 

Of course we must allow something to the influence 
of the personal element in deciding which faction would 
be adopted by any particular person or party in a city. 
The minds of the devout must infallibly have been 
affected by the terrors of Papal interdicts and excom- 
munications, though, indeed, Bergamo paid no heed to 
them for thirty years, and Pavia and Cremona for even 
longer periods. The nobles, too, would be specially 
influenced by the glamour of the Imperial dignity. 
Private motives appear very clearly in the case of 
Parma, where on the election to the Papacy of Sinibaldo 
Fieschi (Pope Innocent IV.), his kinsmen the Rossi, 
Lupi, and others, declared themselves Guelfs, and ulti- 
mately dealt a deadly blow to the cause of Frederick II. 
by detaching from his side the city which had been his 
constant ally for thirty-five years. We find traces of 
internal struggles of this kind even in the days of 
Barbarossa. Ten nobles of Verona were executed for 
intrigues with him at the very commencement of the 
Lombard League. During the negotiations at Venice he 
gained over a party to his interests in Treviso. The 
variations in the attitude of Como and Cremona during 
his war with the Lombards would seem to point to the 
existence in these cities of parties supporting and opposing 
the Empire. 

One cannot lay too much stress on the infinite 
diversity which is perhaps the main characteristic of 
the story of the cities of Italy. As Symonds puts it, 

' It seems almost certain that the supremacy of the Ghibellines in 
Verona rested also on the support of the popolo, and above all oii 
the poorer portion of it. 

= This is very noticeable in the case of Asti. The people 
followed with equal readiness in the field whichever of the noble 
factions had for the moment the upper hand, though on the whole 
they were slightly more favourably disposed to the Guelfs. 



THE CONQUEST OF THE CONTADO 201 

" When the Communes emerge into prominence . . . 
they have already assumed shapes of marked distinctness 
and bewildering diversity. Each wears from the first 
and preserves a physiognomy that justifies our thinking 
and speaking of the town as an incarnate entity. The cities 
of Italy, down to the very smallest, bear the attributes of 
individuals. The mutual attractions and repulsions that 
presided over their growth have given them specific 
qualities which they will never lose, which will be 
reflected in their architecture, in their customs, in their 
language, in their policy, as well as in the institutions of 
their government. We think of them involuntarily as 
persons, and reserve for them epithets that mark the 
permanence of their distinctive characters." ^ 

And so the general facts sketched in the preceding 
pages are modified from city to city. The cities of Cen- 
tral Lombardy were particularly torn by feuds between 
class and class. In the Trevisan Mark such conflicts are 
but little heard of ; but here rival noble houses contend 
for the supremacy ; and their quarrels are accompanied 
by the conflagration of whole quarters within the walls 
and the wholesale devastation of the country districts. 
In the Emilian towns — Parma, Reggio, and Modena — the 
energies of the population found vent in the warfare 
against neighbouring Communes ; it is not until towards 
the close of the first half of the thirteenth century that 
internal discord becomes an important feature in their 
history, to rage then with as much fury as in the rest of 
the valley of the Po. 

' Symonds, " The Age of the Despots," p. 26. 



CHAPTER VIII 

THE WARS OF THE CITIES AND THE FACTIONS OF 
THE MARK 

Italy was left undisturbed from the side of Germany 
during the eleven years while Philip and Otho struggled 
for the crown. The cities made use of this interval to 
pursue their own private quarrels with ever increasing 
animosity. It would be impossible even to enumerate 
all the feuds between city and city which are recorded 
by contemporary annalists. Ferrari makes the curious 
calculation that during the period from 1190 to 1250 
no less than 1,465 combats are recorded between rival 
Communes, without taking into account the conflicts 
between smaller places, dependent on greater cities. We 
find Milan arrayed against Pavia, Como against Bergamo, 
Brescia against Bergamo and Cremona, Verona against 
Mantua, Ferrara against Ravenna, Modena against Reggio 
— in short, every city against its neighbours. 

A particularly violent struggle between Parma and 
Piacenza brought into the field all Central Lombardy 
as allies of one or the other party. We have already 
mentioned that Henry VI., in exchange for a sum of 
money, had granted to Piacenza the town of Borgo San 
Donnino, which he seems to have looked on as an 
Imperial fief, but which Parma claimed as rightfully 
belonging to her. This was in 1191, and the two cities im- 
mediately flew to arms. Both parties alternately got pos- 
session of the disputed town, both sought the help of their 
allies. Pavia, Cremona, Bergamo, Reggio, and Modena 
took part with Parma ; Milan, Como, Brescia, Asti, Ales- 
sandria, Vercelli, and Novara gave help to Piacenza. A 

203 



THE WARS OF THE CITIES 203 

pitched battle was fought between the strength of each 
party in 1199, in which the advantage would seem to 
have remained with Parma and Cremona. In the next 
years the party of Parma still more gained the upper 
hand. Como and Milan suffered heavily ; discord broke 
out in Brescia between nobles and people, with the 
result that the former called in the help of Cremona 
and Bergamo ; and these gained a complete victory 
over the popolo, whose Carroccio was brought in 
triumph to Cremona. The latter city seems for some 
unexplained reason to have been rapidly rising to a 
position second only to that of Milan, and to have begun 
to supersede in influence her old ally Pavia. As well as 
fighting Brescia, Milan, and Piacenza in the cause of 
Parma, she was able to come to the help of Mantua, 
which was being hard pressed by Verona ; and the 
united forces succeeded in inflicting on the latter city 
a defeat so severe that the Veronese had to agree to a 
disadvantageous peace. 

Pavia was not so successful in her warfare against 
Milan. Isolated from her allies — for Lodi had made 
peace with Milan in 1198 and Milan, having given up her 
attempts to subdue Novara had exchanged her former 
hostility to that city for an alliance — Pavia was ringed 
round with enemies, and began to weaken under their 
incessant attacks. The capture of the strong castle of 
Vigevano after a siege of six weeks, and a great defeat 
in the open country left the rich district of the Lomelline 
between the Rivers Ticino and Po at the mercy of the 
Milanese ; and Pavia was forced to submit to hard peace 
conditions, and to join the alliance of Milan. In 1202 
we find Pavia forced to follow the banners of her 
rival in a raid against the territory of Bergamo. 

More peaceful counsels began to prevail in Lombardy 
as the preparations for the Fourth Crusade turned men's 
thoughts towards a general pacification of Christendom. 
Cremona and Bergamo were reconciled with Brescia and 
Como ; and in 1202 Piacenza and Milan made a treaty 
with Cremona and Parma, by which Borgo San Donnino 
was left to the latter. A war between Reggio and 



204 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

Modena, in which the latter had been aided by Verona 
and Ferrara, was also brought to an end ; and, for a 
moment, there was an almost universal peace. 

It is unfortunate that there was no contemporary writer 
during the twelfth and early thirteenth century who might 
have given us a general history of Lombardy. As some 
compensation for this a succession of writers have pre- 
served to us, not indeed the history of Lombardy as a 
whole, nor even a continuous picture of the life of a 
particular city, but detached pictures now of one city 
at one particular epoch, now of another at a different 
time. In this way, though in the records of each 
individual city there are gaps, yet each in turn rises 
before us for a moment, and from the glimpses thus 
afforded to us we can piece together the history of the 
whole. 

Thus our knowledge of the beginnings of the Commune 
at Milan and of the strife about the marriage of the clergy 
comes to us from the chronicles of Arnolph, and of the 
elder and younger Landolph, the latter of whom was 
himself much involved in some of the events he relates. 
We get a vivid picture of the rivalry between neigh- 
bouring cities in the rude poem by an unknown citizen 
of Como telling the story of the ten years' war of his 
native town against Milan. The Morenas give a valuable 
insight into the feelings with which Lodi and the other 
towns oppressed by Milan regarded Barbarossa's war 
with that city. The bald pages of the Milanese Sire 
Raoul are yet vivified here and there by a glow of 
patriotic pride as he tells the tale of the resistance of 
the Lombards to the Emperor. As Sir Raoul ends, 
Cremona comes into our view. The annals of Bishop 
Sicard and of another unknown writer give us only the 
barest outline of facts, yet enable us to understand in 
some measure the fierce energy and the expansive force 
which run through the life of the Communes at this 
period. Then the Emilian cities take up the tale, their 
annals increasing in volume and in literary value as 
the great struggle between the Papacy and the doomed 
House of Hohenstaufen draws to its close. From 



THE WARS OF THE CITIES 205 

amongst the unnamed writers of the annals of Modena 
and Reggio, of Parma and Piacenza, stands out clearly 
the personality of Fra Salimbene of Parma. Less a 
serious historian than a recounter of his own experi- 
ences, he has reproduced, as in a mirror, the age in 
which he lived, with its fierce party struggles and its 
great figures such as Frederick II. and St. Louis of 
France. He brings before us by a hundred anecdotes 
the daily life of the clergy, of the feudal lords, of the 
merchants and artisans of the Communes. The political 
events of the time are recounted, together with the 
strange outbreaks of religious fanaticism among the 
people, the careers of eminent Churchmen or party 
leaders, and the petty details of daily life. The extra- 
ordinary frankness of the work is equalled by the 
clearness and boldness with which men and events are 
judged. The outspokenness with which he treats of 
the manners of the age is the more remarkable when 
we remember that he composed the work in his old 
age for the information of his niece, a nun at Parma. 

We would give much for some chronicle which would 
have preserved to us the outlook on affairs of Pavia, ever 
battling stubbornly for the Hohenstaufen, ever slipping 
gradually back from its proud position as the rival and 
equal of Milan. But the loyalty to the Empire and the 
hatred of Milan, which are the two main features in the 
story of Pavia, inspired none of its citizens to tell the tale 
of his country's battle in a losing cause. It is not until 
the early fourteenth century, when the city had sunk 
before her rival, when the hand of God lay heavy on 
her, that one of the sons was led to give us the " Praises 
of Pavia," a work in which the loyalty of the writer 
cannot disguise from us that the sun of the capital of 
the Lombards had set for ever. 

Towards the close of the thirteenth century we again 
meet with Milanese writers ; and we find in the chronicles 
of Asti one of the most vivid impressions left to us of 
the turbulent life of a Commune where almost every year 
was marked by a revolution, and yet, in spite of all, the 
citizens prospered and extended their power far and wide. 



206 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

But of all the provinces of Italy there is none which 
has left us such numerous and such brilliant records 
of the thirteenth century as the Trevisan Mark. From 
Gerardo Maurisio of Vicenza, the partisan of the House 
of Romano, whose exploits he relates, to the statesman 
Mussato, the worthy precursor of the humanists of the 
Renaissance, the contemporary of Dante and looked on 
by his own age as a genius even superior to the great 
Florentine, we have a succession of real historians with 
an insight into political affairs and a skill in recounting 
events not unworthy of the remarkable facts they relate. 
And among the diversified pages of Italian history there 
are none more striking than the tale of the feuds which 
tormented the Trevisan Mark — 

" The land which Po and Adige lave," 

as Dante styles it, and which its children, before their 
quarrels had laid it waste, fondly called " The Mark of 
Love "I — as they are related to us in the writings of 
Maurisio and Ferreto of Vicenza, of Rolandino and 
Mussato of Padua, to mention only the four chief 
writers of this portion of Italy. 

Either on account of the hilly nature of a large part of 
this district, or profiting by the feuds between the chief 
cities, which here were all nearly equal in power, the 
feudal lords of the Mark preserved their independence 
longer than did most of those in the rest of Lombardy. 
The Counts of San Bonifazio, descendants of the former 
Counts of Verona, held their ground almost at the very 
gates of that city, within which they still preserved certain 
rights. The House of Este, seated on the southern slopes 
of the Euganean hills and in the marshy district called 
the Polesine of Rovigo, between the Adige and the Po, 
and the lords of Camino, on the borderland between 
Treviso, Belluno, and the lands of the Patriarch of 
Aquileia, were able, through their own resources or 
their alliances, to preserve their independence all through 

' Cantu, " Ezzelino da Romano," p, 135. 




SOAVE. 

Fortress of the Counts of San Bonifazio. 



THE WARS OF THE CITIES 207 

the twelfth century. Later in origin than these three 
families, but destined to obtain a fearful prominence over 
them all, were the lords called first of Onara, a name 
they subsequently changed for that of their chief seat, 
Romano. 

The founder of this family, a certain Etzel, or Ezelo, 
is said to have come into Italy in the train of the Em- 
peror Conrad the Salic, a poor knight owning only one 
horse. He received from this Emperor the fiefs of 
Onara and Romano, and from the Bishop of Vicenza he 
obtained the small town of Bassano. From him was 
descended Ezzelino, surnamed the Stammerer, who 
largely increased the possessions of his family, obtain- 
ing many castles and lands as fiefs of the Patriarchs 
of Aquileia and the Bishops of Feltre and Belluno. In 
this way, besides many scattered possessions, he became 
master of a compact territory between the lands of 
Vicenza, Treviso, and Padua, and grew to be equal 
in power to any other of the feudal lords of the Mark. 

In his younger days he is said to have gained great 
renown by his exploits during the Crusade led by the 
Emperor Conrad ; and, on his return, he played a pro- 
minent part in the affairs of the Mark. Following the 
common practice of the feudal lords whose lands lay on 
the borders of two or more Communes, he sought to 
maintain his freedom from the control of any one city 
by becoming a burgher of Vicenza, Treviso, and Padua, 
in each of which he built for himself a strong house. 
His skill in arms, his wisdom in the arts of peace, caused 
him to be named by the confederate cities one of their 
generals in the war against Barbarossa. We find him, 
together with Anselm da Doara, in command of the 
forces sent by the League to the relief of Alessandria ; 
and at the Peace of Constance a special paragraph in the 
treaty records that he was once more readmitted to the 
Imperial favour.^ He cannot have survived for long 

' Some writers have rather absurdly taken this to mean that he 
deserted the cause of the League. Rather it shows that he felt that 
he required a special clause to secure him from the vengeance of 
the Emperor. 



208 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

after the conclusion of this peace ; but in these days of 
his old age he committed the crime which blemishes his 
previous good repute, and was the first act in the bloody 
drama which was to work such havoc in the Mark. 

The family of Camposampiero were lords of wide 
domains in the dioceses of Padua and Treviso. A 
marriage was projected between the eldest son of Tiso- 
lino, head of this family, and Cecilia of Baone and 
Abano, one of the richest heiresses in the territory of 
Padua. Before concluding the agreement Tissolino con- 
sulted his father-in-law, Ezzelino. The latter betrayed 
the confidence thus reposed in him, and, sending rich 
presents to Cecilia's guardian, obtained her hand for his 
son, another Ezzelino, called in later times the Monk, 
from his retirement to a cloister in his old age. The 
marriage was celebrated before the Camposampieros 
could interfere ; and the treacherous act of the lord of 
Romano excited their fiercest resentment. Not long 
after her marriage, as Cecilia was visiting her Paduan 
estates, she was surprised by Tisolino's son and brutally 
outraged. The younger Ezzelino repudiated his bride,i 
and from these mutual injuries a deadly feud sprang up, 
which was to end only with the almost complete destruc- 
tion of the House of Camposampiero. 

Deeds of violence such as these, or political jealousies, 
had from an early period led to feuds within the aristo- 
cracies which ruled the Communes of the Mark. As 
early as 1172 we read that Verona was burned by its own 
citizens, and in 1194 a nearly similar fate overtook 
Vicenza. In this city a party known as the Maltraversi, 
headed by the descendants of the former Counts of 
Vicenza, was at variance with the family of Vivario and 
their supporters, amongst whom was Ezzelino the Monk. 
The quarrel broke out into open violence in 1194 ; the 
two factions fought in the streets ; Ezzelino and his party, 
to defend themselves, set fire to some houses, and the 
flames spreading, consumed a large part of the city. 

This was the commencement of a long and compli- 
cated series of wars, which involved all the cities of the 
' She afterwards married a noble Venetian. 




SOAVE. 

Another View. 



:e page 208. 



THE WARS OF THE CITIES 209 

Mark. Ezzelino and the Vivarii withdrew to Bassano, 
which now, Hke the greater cities, had begun to govern 
itself as a Commune, but where he still maintained his 
rank as the chief citizen. Vicenza claimed dominion over 
the town, as successor to the rights of the Bishop ; but 
Bassano had no desire to be swallowed up by its power- 
ful neighbour, and, with Ezzelino, bid defiance to the 
burghers of Vicenza. The interposition of Verona 
brought about a peace, and the banished faction 
returned. A few years later, however, Ezzelino and 
Bassano were again at variance with Vicenza ; and this 
time it would appear that both parties in that city were 
united in attacking the lord of Romano. He turned to 
Padua for help, and this city, glad of a chance of wiping 
out old injuries, fell on the Vicentines and routed them, 
taking over two thousand prisoners. Vicenza sought 
assistance from the Veronese, who came with their 
Carroccio, and ravaged the Paduan lands right up to the 
city walls, until the terrified Paduans released their 
prisoners. On this Ezzelino addressed himself also to 
Verona, became a burgher of that Commune, and put 
his chief castles into its hands, with the result that the 
Veronese brought about a reconciliation between him 
and Vicenza, by the terms of which he was readmitted to 
that city, and restored to all his possessions. But this 
irritated the Paduans, and, instigated no doubt by the 
Camposampieros, they fell on Onara and seized the castle. 
In the meantime Treviso had attacked Belluno, which 
was still under the rule of its Bishop ; the Patriarch of 
Aquileia interposing to end the quarrel, was himself 
involved in it ; Treviso incited a number of the 
Patriarch's vassals to revolt from him ; and he, to obtain 
help from Venice, sought burgher rights there. Hence a 
war between Treviso and Venice. And about the same 
period Verona was at deadly feud with Mantua. In 
short, the whole Mark was filled with rapine and blood- 
shed until, in 1202, the interposition of the Pope, who 
was busily organising the Fourth Crusade, brought about 
a general peace in the Mark as well as in Central Lom- 
bardy. 

14 



210 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

This peace was not of long duration. The very next 
year Bologna fell on Modena. These Communes before 
the days of the Lombard League had had frequent 
quarrels, arising out of conflicting claims to the small 
town of Nonantola, and to the allegiance of several 
of the feudal lords on their borders. The feud v/hich 
now began afresh lasted, with but short intervals of 
truce, for nearly fifty years ; and a permanent rivalry 
between Bologna and Modena may now be added to 
those between Milan and Pavia, and Parma and 
Piacenza. 

In the Mark the peace scarcely lasted longer. A fresh 
outrage of Ezzelino's on the family of Camposampiero 
brought on new hostilities between the two families, in 
which the Marquis of Este appears as an opponent of 
Ezzelino. Peace was again made, only to be broken by 
an attempt of the Camposampieros to murder Ezzelino 
while he was attending a great festival at Venice. Azzo 
of Este was walking with Ezzelino at the moment of the 
attack, and the latter asserted that, far from trying to 
help him, the Marquis had done his best to hinder him 
from defending himself. The two families of Este and 
Romano were now permanently estranged. 

Verona was the theatre in which they first fought out 
their quarrel. Here the Count of San Bonifazio stood at 
the head of one party, which was opposed by the family 
of Montecchi (Shakespeare's Montagues) and their ad- 
herents. Ezzelino had been Podesta in Vienna in 1200, 
and had established amicable relations with the Mon- 
tecchi ; Azzo of Este was on terms of friendship with 
San Bonifazio. The two factions among the nobles 
appealed to arms to settle their differences. It is not 
very clear how often one party expelled the other during 
the years 1204 to 1208, but it is certain that early in 1206 
the Montecchi were driven out, after a fierce fight in the 
streets and a conflagration which destroyed a great part 
of the city. The defeated party appealed to Ezzelino, 
and found a powerful supporter in Salinguerra, the com- 
petitor with Azzo of Este for the rule of Ferrara. 

In this city, we are told, there existed two factions, 



THE WARS OF THE CITIES 211 

already of long standing in the days of William Marche- 
sella degli Adelardi, the liberator of Ancona. The 
majority of the nobles, with the Adelardi at their head, 
were at variance with Torello Salinguerra, head of the 
chief noble house in the city, who was favoured by the 
people.i William Marchesella, being left without male 
heirs, determined to end the feud by giving his niece, 
Marchesella by name, and the inheritor of his vast pos- 
sessions, in marriage to Torello's son. As she was still 
only a child, it was settled that on William's death 
Torello was to assume the guardianship of her and her 
estates until such time as the marriage could be 
celebrated. 

But this arrangement by no means suited the partisans 
of the Adelardi, eager to continue the feud even when 
their leader had abandoned it. As soon as William was 
dead they sought a new head in the Marquis of Este, 
whose territory lay along the northern borders of 
Ferrara. An agreement was soon come to with him ; 
Marchesella was carried off from the care of Salinguerra, 
and brought to the castle of the Marquis, where she was 
at once betrothed to his son Obizzo. She died before the 
marriage could take place, and, by William's will, half of 
his lands were now to go to his sister's sons, the rest to 
the Church. But so powerful was the spirit of faction 
that it prevailed over self-interest, and William's nephews 
voluntarily resigned their inheritance in favour of the 
House of Este in return for its support against Salin- 
guerra. The lands thus acquired and the support of a 
whole faction in the Commune gave the Marquis a posi- 
tion in Ferrara which ultimately led to his posterity 
obtaining sovereign rights over the city. For the present 
he was received as a burgher, and struggled with Salin- 
guerra for pre-eminence. 

Naturally the quarrel of the two factions now assumed 
a very bitter aspect, and all Ferrara was filled with con- 
fusion. The chronicler tells us that the rival parties 

' The chronicler of Ferrara says, "The greatest part of the 
Plebeians and the Ramberti and some other powerful men of the 
nobles favoured Salinguerra." Most of the nobles opposed him. 



212 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

expelled one another ten times before the year 1220, and 
each temporary triumph was marked by the destruction 
of the houses and the pillage of the goods of the van- 
quished faction. He goes on to say that his father, 
sitting by the fire in the winter evenings, used to relate 
how he himself had seen the destruction of thirty-two 
lofty towers in the course of these civic brawls. 

At the opening of the thirteenth century Salinguerra, 
son of Torello, was at the head of the one party, Marquis 
Azzo of Este led the other. Ezzelino and Salinguerra 
had thus both a common enemy in the person of the 
Marquis ; they were also connected by marriage, so that 
it was but natural that they should unite to support the 
Montecchi of Verona against the faction led by San 
Bonifazio in alliance with the house of Este. 

The whole Mark was now arrayed in two hostile 
parties. On the one side were the Houses of Este, San 
Bonifazio, and Camposampiero, to whom were shortly 
added the lords of Camino and the Vivarii of Vicenza. 
On the other side stood Ezzelino and Salinguerra, sup- 
ported by the inhabitants of Bassano and the Commune 
of Treviso. In Vicenza Ezzelino had changed his rela- 
tionship to the factions which strove for mastery. It 
would seem that both parties had united against him in 
the attack on Bassano and the war which followed with 
Padua. As soon as peace was made he had joined the 
faction of his former enemies, the Counts of Vicenza, no 
doubt angered by the manner in which he had been 
treated by those who had once been his friends. For 
the moment there was peace in Vicenza ; the Vivarii 
were in power, but had proceeded to no oppressive 
measures against their adversaries. 

Aided by Ezzelino and Salinguerra, the Montecchi 
returned to Verona, and drove out their adversaries by 
the strong hand. The latter turned for help to Mantua, 
whose citizens were devoted to the interests of the Count 
of San Bonifazio — possibly he, to secure himself from 
the aggressions of Verona, had sided with Mantua in the 
preceding war between the two cities. The Marquis of 
Este, at the head of the Mantuans and of his partisans 



THE WARS OF THE CITIES 213 

collected from all the Mark, advanced to restore the 
exiles. After fierce fighting in the streets the Montecchi 
were once more expelled, their houses destroyed ; and 
Azzo followed up his success by making himself master 
of the castles in which the defeated party had taken refuge. 
Fortune seemed to smile on the Marquis. In 1208 he 
re-entered Ferrara, from which Salinguerra had driven 
him in the preceding year ; and it is said that he was 
made supreme ruler of the city/ the first example of a 
free Commune resigning its liberties into the hands of a 
despot. Secure in the rule of Verona, of which he 
guided the policy till his death in 1212, with Ferrara 
obedient to his will, and Mantua allied to him, Azzo now 
brought about a league between these cities and Cremona 
and Modena. The territory which lies in the angle 
formed by the sudden bend of the Po northward at 
Guastalla and again eastward at Borgoforte, and which 
had once formed part of the territories of Matilda, had 
been for some time contested by Mantua, Reggio, and 
Cremona. The first of these cities had been extending 
its rule over districts claimed by Reggio, and we find the 
allies of Mantua now operating in this region against the 
castle of Suzara. Since Modena and Bologna were, as 
we have said, in a chronic state of hostility, an alliance 
had naturally been formed between the latter Commune 
and Reggio. Parma was also allied to Reggio, and the 
Bolognese brought into the field their allies, Imola and 
Faenza. The forces of these five Communes advanced 
to relieve the castle, and were opposed by the five 
leagued with Azzo of Este. As is too often the case with 
the history of this period, we know nothing of what 
followed, beyond the bare fact that Suzara was relieved ; 
but for many years we find hostilities continuing between 
Reggio and Mantua as well as between Reggio and 
Modena. 

It is to be noted that Azzo of Este and his faction, to 
whom Sismondi already applies the name of Guelf, 

^ There are, however, grave doubts as to the genuineness of the 
act purporting to record the election of Azzo as " gubernator et 
rector et generahs et perpetuus dominus." 



214 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

appear here as allies of the Imperialistic Cremona, which 
in the very same year was once more at war with the 
Papally inclined Milan and Brescia. This goes far 
towards proving that the factions in the Mark had not 
yet assumed any decided position towards either Pope or 
Emperor, and that the real crystallising of the warring 
factions among the nobles and of the rival cities into the 
definite shape of groups ranged under the banner of the 
Empire or of the Church did not take place until a 
period later than that which is generally assigned to it.^ 

Following up his success at Verona, Azzo in the next 
year (1209) expelled Ezzelino from Vicenza by the help 
of the Vivarii. In the open field, however, Ezzelino, at 
the head of his own vassals and the burghers of Bassano, 
entirely defeated the forces of Vicenza. Azzo was only 
just in time to drive back the victors from the walls of 
that city ; and then, assembling all his strength, he 
advanced to attack Bassano. Treviso, however, where 
Ezzelino had powerful supporters, moved to his help ; 
so, too, did Padua, always ready to range herself in 
opposition to Vicenza. Salinguerra seized the oppor- 
tunity to make a sudden attack on Ferrara, in the 
absence of so many of the partisans of his rival, and 
once more made himself master of that town. This 
news caused Azzo to retreat from his operations against 
Bassano, and the two factions once more faced one 
another on equal terms. At this moment Otho, left 
uncontested ruler of Germany by the murder of his rival 
Philip, descended by the Brenner, and issued orders for 
a general cessation of hostilities. 

The rival leaders went to Otho's camp, where a 
reconciliation, a temporary one as it proved, was brought 
about, not without difficulty. Otho seems to have 
recognised the advantage it would be to him to attach 
the great nobles of the Mark to his interests, irrespective 
of their personal rivalries. He made large grants to 
Salinguerra, brought back the Montecchi to Verona, 
and installed Ezzelino as Podesta of Vicenza. Azzo of 

' I.e., until the time of the quarrel between Frederick II. and the 
Lombards in 1226. 



THE WARS OF THE CITIES 215 

Este had received the Marquisate of Ancona from the 
Pope, he now took it a second time from Otho's hands. 
This favour, however, did not counterbalance in Azzo's 
mind the resentment he felt at the benefits conferred 
on his enemies. He was Otho's kinsman, and as such 
expected the Imperial support in his private quarrels. 
His future conduct towards Otho bears witness of this 
resentment. 

For the moment, however, peace reigned in Italy. The 
Pope was friendly to Otho ; and the cities through 
which he passed on his journey to Rome received him 
with fitting honour. Reaching the Eternal City, and 
renewing his lavish promises to respect the rights of 
the Holy See, and to surrender all claims on Romagna, 
Spoleto, the Mark of Ancona, and the lands of the 
Countess Matilda, Otho received the Imperial Crown 
at the hands of Innocent III. 

The harmony between Pontiff and Caesar lasted but 
for a short time. The blame for the rupture must be 
entirely laid upon Otho, whom success had blinded 
to the dangers of a quarrel with the Pope. With many 
good qualities he was of a rough, overbearing disposi- 
tion, ungrateful to his supporters and inclined to over- 
estimate his own strength. Seeing himself, as he 
thought, secure in possession of the throne, he began 
to regret the sacrifices of the Imperial rights which 
he had made to purchase Papal support, and gave a 
ready ear to those of his councillors who urged him 
to violate his engagements and revive all the claims 
of former Emperors to dominion in Italy. 

Otho had made the most lavish promises to the Pope ; 
but no sooner was he crowned than he changed his 
attitude. The investiture of Azzo of Este as Marquis 
of Ancona seemed an encroachment on the Papal rights 
over that district ; and the Emperor still further infringed 
the rights of the Church by seizing many towns in 
Central Italy and setting up a Duke in Spoleto. Former 
Emperors had, it is true, made similar appointments, 
but Otho had solemnly sworn to acknowledge the 
Pope as sole ruler of Spoleto, Romagna and the Mark 



216 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

of Ancona and to abandon to him the inheritance of 
Matilda, or that part of it at least which comprised 
Southern Tuscany. Still more unjustifiable was his attack 
on Apulia and Sicily, the dominions of Innocent's ward 
Frederick, son of Henry VI., the last representative of 
the House of Hohenstaufen. In league with some dis- 
contented barons of the mainland, he invaded Frederick's 
kingdom in 1210 and soon made himself master of a 
large number of cities and fortresses. 

The repeated expostulations of Innocent proving 
fruitless, that pontiff as a last resource excommunicated 
Otho, and declared his deposition from the Empire. 
Papal emissaries were not long in exciting a revolt in 
Germany, where Otho had never been able to make 
himself very popular ; and a deputation from many 
leading nobles and prelates was sent to Frederick to 
offer him the Imperial crown and to beg him to come 
in person and head his supporters north of the 
Alps. 

Frederick's counsellors shrank from the dangers of 
the enterprise, but the young monarch— he was only 
sixteen — overruled their fears ; and relying on Innocent's 
support he left his kingdom and proceeded to Rome, 
where he was received by Pope Innocent with every 
mark of friendship. 

The Genoese, who had most important commercial 
relations with Sicily, had easily been won over to 
Frederick's side. Their fleet escorted him to Genoa, 
where he waited until the efforts of the Pope to bring 
the Lombards over to his cause should bear fruit, 
and enable him to pass across the valley of the Po 
into Germany. 

The news of the outbreak in Germany had determined 
Otho to recross the Alps. Before leaving Lombardy 
he had summoned the deputies of the cities to meet 
him at Lodi to renew their oaths of fealty. Almost 
all obeyed, but Azzo of Este, more obedient to the 
Pope than to the Emperor, did not appear, and his 
example was followed by the Communes of Pavia, 
Cremona, and Verona. From this moment the House 



THE WARS OF THE CITIES 217 

of Este stands pre-eminent as the champion of the 
Papal cause in Lombardy. 

Innocent's efforts to win over the cities met with only 
a partial success. Close allies of the Popes as the 
Milanese had been during the preceding half century, 
the remembrance of their sufferings at the hands of 
the House of Hohenstaufen outweighed their attachment 
to the Papacy, and they returned a flat refusal to the 
overtures of Innocent. Piacenza followed the example 
of Milan, so did its smaller neighbours Lodi and Crema. 
But this attitude was in itself enough to cause Pavia 
and Cremona to side with the Pope. Besides, these 
two cities were as attached to the Hohenstaufens as 
Milan was averse to them. Parma had long been allied 
with Cremona against Piacenza ; Ferrara, Mantua, and 
Verona were under the influence of the Marquis Azzo, 
Modena was leagued with them ; all these cities declared 
for Frederick. So did Reggio, though apparently only 
for a moment, for the next year we find the Commune, 
aided by Bologna, at war with Modena. Bologna, 
like Milan, feared the Hohenstaufens, and so held with 
Otho ; its attitude determined that of its allies in 
Romagna Cesena, Faenza, Imola, Forli, Bertinoro. But 
these were confronted in that province by a hostile 
league formed by Rimini, Pesaro, Fano, and Urbino, 
which all ranged themselves on the side of Frederick. 

In the Mark Ezzelino, with Salinguerra, remained 
faithful to Otho. Vicenza and Treviso were ruled by 
their partisans ; Padua, too, was on their side. In 
Brescia nobles and people were, as usual, at variance ; 
the former leaned towards Cremona, the latter towards 
Milan ; the victory of the popular party secured the 
Commune for Otho.^ 

In short, all Lombardy was divided into two hostile 
camps, to which later writers have applied the names 
Guelf and Ghibelline. But, by a curious confusion, 
the Ghibelline cause was for the moment that of the 
Pope ; Pavia and Cremona, which had braved the Papal 

' Acqui, Alba, Alessandria, Como, Vercelli, Novara, Tortona, were 
all allied with Otho and the Milanese. 



218 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

thunders in the cause of the House of Swabia, now 
found themselves the allies of the Church in support 
of that same house ; Milan and Piacenza, which had 
suffered so much from the Empire, were now arrayed 
in defence of the Emperor against the pretensions of 
the Papacy ; and the Emperor himself was head of 
that House of Welf whose name had become synony- 
mous with that of champion of the Church. 

Frederick remained nearly three months in Genoa, 
vainly endeavouring to secure a passage across Lombardy 
by negotiations. The slender forces at his disposal made 
it dangerous to attempt to force a road ; but delay 
seemed more dangerous still, and the young sovereign 
resolved to risk everything on a bold stroke. 

Asti, the chief city in Piedmont, had embraced his 
cause, so had the Marquis of Montferrat, whose house 
from of old had been faithful to the Hohenstaufens and 
allied with Pavia. But Alessandria, founded by a pontiff, 
had already developed such hostility to Asti, that it 
now refused to listen to Innocent, and with Alba and 
Acqui prepared to resist his protege. Frederick, how- 
ever, evaded the hostile forces and came safely to Asti. 
The road north was barred by Vercelli and Novara — 
the former from of old hostile to Montferrat, the latter 
in alliance with Milan since that city had renounced 
farther attempts to oppress its smaller neighbours. The 
westward road seems to have been closed to him by 
the hostility of the Count of Savoy, so Frederick pro- 
ceeded to Pavia, from which he hoped to make his 
way eastward to where the cities supporting him formed 
a solid group and commanded the entrance to the 
passes leading northward through Tyrol. 

But the territories of Milan and Lodi separated Pavia 
from her allies further east ; and a strong force of 
Milanese patrolled the banks of the Lambro which 
ran between the lands of Pavia and Lodi. The young 
Frederick, impatient of further delay, determined again 
on a bold policy, and setting out from Pavia under cover 
of the night, he succeeded in evading his enemies, and 
reached Cremona, where he was welcomed by Azzo 



THE WARS OF THE CITIES 219 

and his partisans.^ From here his passage to Verona 
and the road northward to Germany was easy. The 
direct route over the Brenner into the valley of the Inn 
proved, however, to be held against him ; and he was 
forced to make his way over the mountains into the 
valley of the Upper Rhine, where he was received as 
sovereign by the Bishop of Coire and the Abbot of 
St. Gallen. Pushing on regardless of danger, he reached 
Constance with a handful of followers, only to find 
that Otho with a considerable force was only a few 
hours' march distant, and that his cooks and other 
servants had already entered the town to prepare for 
their master's arrival. Frederick's position seemed des- 
perate, but his eloquence prevailed on Bishop and 
burghers to range themselves on his side ; the gates 
were closed, and Otho, unprepared for a siege, was 
forced to retire. 

For the next six years the two rivals fought out 
their quarrel in Germany, success inclining ever more 
and more to the side of Frederick, until in 1218 Otho's 
death placed him in undisputed possession of the 
Empire. Italy during this period was left quite free 
from all interference from the side of Germany, and 
the cities were able to satisfy their mutual animosities 
under the banners of the two claimants to the Imperial 
crown. 

The war was at first carried on on a large scale, resemb- 
ling in this the struggle of the days of the Lombard 
League, and involving, as we have seen, nearly all the 
cities of Lombardy. Cremona comes forward at this 
period as the chief opponent of Milan and the principal 
supporter of Frederick. A great confederate army from 
Milan, Piacenza, and six other Communes, as well as 
many of the popular party of Brescia, invaded the 
Cremonese territory in 1213. At Castel Leone they 
surrounded the forces of Cremona, which were aided by 
three hundred Brescian nobles and some help from 
Pavia ; but these, drawing courage from their desperate 
situation, and in spite of inferior numbers, gained a 

' Most of his escort were slain or captured by the Milanese. 



220 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

complete victory, taking four thousand prisoners and 
the Carroccio of Milan.^ 

This victory was not followed up ; and the Milanese 
turned against Pavia, hoping to crush this city, which 
was almost isolated in the midst of the partisans of Otho, 
Tortona, Vercelli, Alba, Acqui, and Alessandria joined 
their forces to those of Milan, but here, again, the allies 
met with a complete overthrow, two thousand prisoners 
being left in the hands of the Pavesans. The supporters 
of Innocent and Frederick saw in these disasters the 
working of the Papal interdict which had been pro- 
nounced against Milan and Bologna in the previous year. 
Modern historians suggest that the internal dissensions 
between nobles and people, which broke out with renewed 
violence in this year in Milan were largely responsible 
for the ill-success of her arms. 

In the Veronese Mark also the war was at first prose- 
cuted on a large scale. Azzo of Este had led an army 
assembled from Verona, Ferrara, Mantua, and other 
Communes ^ against Ezzelino, on whose side were Tre- 
viso, Padua, Bassano, and Vicenza. Azzo had hoped to 
capture this latter city, but his forces were completely 
routed near the walls. 

This was in 121 2. Soon afterwards Azzo died, and 
with his death the league which he had built up in 
Eastern Lombardy began to fall asunder. Salinguerra 
attacked Ferrara, and forced Azzo's son and successor, 
Aldobrandino, to share the rule with him, both uniting 
in naming the Podesta. A private quarrel between 
Aldobrandino and Padua led to the siege of the castle of 
Este by the latter city, helped by Ezzelino. After an 
obstinate defence the young marquis was forced to sur- 
render, to become a burgher of Padua, and to acknow- 
ledge the overlordship of the Commune over Este and the 
adjoining district. 

' According to Raumer, p. 189, vol. iii., the Cremonese were 
surrounded by their enemies, and asked for a truce, as it was close 
to Pentecost. On this being refused they fought with the courage 
of despair. 

= Pavia, Cremona, Reggio, and Brescia (this city was still under 
the influence of the nobles). 




Treviso. 
Salone del Gran Consiglio. 



e page 220. 



THE WARS OF THE CITIES 221 

The death of Azzo, and the overtures of Innocent to 
Salinguerra, on whom he conferred a large portion of the 
lands of the Countess Matilda in the dioceses of Bologna 
and Modena, led to a pacification between the supporters 
of Otho and Frederick in the eastern cities. The Mon- 
tecchi returned to Verona, the opponents of Ezzelino to 
Vicenza. Matters drifted back to the old state of desul- 
tory warfare between city and city, with intervals of 
peace, broken almost as soon as made.^ The occasion of 
one of these quarrels is so characteristic that it deserves 
to be given at some length. 

The people of Treviso, to celebrate an interval of peace, 
had summoned all the neighbouring populations to a 
splendid festival in their city. Amongst other amuse- 
ments they had provided a mimic castle of wood adorned 
in the most sumptuous manner with coverings of vair, 
ermine, samite, purple, and scarlet, set off with gold 
and costly jewels. Within this castle were stationed the 
twelve most beautiful ladies of Padua with their attendant 
maidens, armed with all kinds of flowers and fruits. The 
chosen youths of the neighbouring cities advanced in 
bands to attack the fortress defended by such a garrison. 
The ladies made a long and vigorous defence. Showers 
of violets and lilies, apples, pears, grapes, and even the 
choice fruits of the East mingled with perfumed waters 
of various kinds, hurtled through the air. In spite of 
these missiles the ladies stuck to their posts. But finally 
a band of Venetians, " fighting prudently and delectably," 
pressed forward through the rain of projectiles, breached 
the walls, and planted on them the banner of St. Mark. 
The youth of Padua, inflamed at this sight, pressed for- 
ward in turn to force their way inside the fortifications. 
The two bands were crushed together in the breach ; 
angry words arose ; from words both parties came to 
blows ; the Paduans proved the stronger, and in the 
struggle seized on the banner of St. Mark and tore it. 

With difficulty the Trevisans restored order, and drove 
both parties out of the town. The Venetians flew to arms 

' So in 12 13 Reggio and Bologna were at war with Modena, in 
1215 Reggio and Cremona were at war with Verona and Mantua. 



222 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

to demand satisfaction for the outrage to their flag. The 
government of Padua refused it. Hence a war between 
the two cities, in which the Paduans got the worst. As 
a condition of peace they were forced to send to Venice 
twenty-five of the young men who had destroyed the 
banner. Once arrived in Venice these were courteously 
treated, and sent home honourably to their own city. 
But in memory of this, down to the last days of the 
Venetian republic, the city of Padua sent every year on 
a fixed day a tribute of thirty hens. These were let loose 
in Venice, and were chased and killed by the populace, 
among whom the day of the " Paduan hens " was one of 
the most noted festivals. 

The war in Central and Western Lombardy was carried 
on vigorously during these years. The Milanese, having 
put an end to their internal quarrels, began to make up 
for their previous reverses. In two successive campaigns 
they made themselves masters of a great portion of the 
territory of Pavia ; then, in alliance with the Count of 
Savoy, they proceeded westward against the Marquis of 
Montferrat and captured Casale, now subject to or allied 
with the Marquis, and, to please the burghers of Vercelli, 
carried off the whole population into captivity. 

Successes gained by Cremona and Parma on the 
eastern frontiers of Milan and Piacenza did not check 
the progress of the Milanese towards the west. Pavia, 
almost surrounded by enemies — having as immediate 
allies only Asti and Montferrat — begins at last to sink 
beneath the attacks of her hereditary foe. Milan was 
now far superior in commerce and manufactures, in 
population and wealth, to the former metropolis of the 
Lombard kings. We can assign no certain reason for 
the decline of Pavia. She has left us no records from 
this period, and the annals of other cities throw no light 
on her internal affairs. Perhaps dissensions between 
nobles and people, of the existence of which some years 
later we have proof, crippled her forces abroad, or dried 
up her wealth at home ; all we can say with certainty is 
that the place formerly held by Pavia as the second city 
of Lombardy must henceforth be assigned to Cremona. 



THE WARS OF THE CITIES 223 

In 1217 Milan obtained a decisive advantage over her 
rival. A great defeat of Pavia and Asti forced the former 
city to renounce Frederick's party and to enrol herself 
among the allies of Milan. In the following year a con- 
federate force, composed of Milanese and Pavesans, with 
the contingents of eight other Communes, advanced 
against Cremona and Parma. Help came to these latter 
from Modena and Reggio ; and these four cities scattered 
the opposing army at Zibello, in that part of the lands of 
Cremona which lay south of the Po. 

The battle, like most others in these contests, led to no 
immediate results. The Lombards were beginning to 
weary of the war ; the death of Otho, leaving Frederick 
undisputed master of Germany, took from Milan and her 
allies all pretext for continuing the struggle. Innocent 
III., greatest of the medieval Popes, had died in 1215 ; 
his successor, Honorius III., was turning all his energies 
to arousing the nations of the West to a new Crusade. 
His emissaries were already busied in working for a 
universal pacification. Under these circumstances peace 
was soon brought about. Milan and her allies were freed 
from the interdict. Frederick was recognised as Emperor. 
Parma, Cremona, and their allies made peace with the 
former partisans of Otho. Even the interminable quar- 
rels of the factions in the Trevisan Mark were stilled. 
The year 12 19 is passed over in silence by all the 
annalists ; for once peace reigned in Lombardy. 

It is noteworthy that in all the warfare of this period 
we hear of no attempts of one city to destroy or enslave 
another. The strength of the majority of the Communes 
was too equally balanced to make such an attempt 
possible; and the penalty paid by Milan in the days 
of Barbarossa for the destruction of Lodi and Como had 
no doubt effectually taught the more powerful cities the 
danger of trying to build up an empire at the expense 
of their weaker neighbours. Besides, the conquest or 
destruction of any Commune would have been too glaring 
a violation of the Treaty of Constance to have passed 
unpunished by any Emperor who claimed the smallest 
influence in Italy. Except for spasmodic efforts of Cre- 



224 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

mona to recover Crema — to the possession of which she 
had a legal claim — it is not until the end of the thirteenth 
century, when the Imperial power had practically become 
extinct in Italy, that we find the larger cities beginning to 
destroy the liberty of their smaller neighbours.^ 

Hence the constant wars of this period were of an 
entirely desultory nature. They took the form of raids 
to destroy the enemy's crops, or of isolated attacks on 
border castles. If there was a battle on a large scale, the 
victors scarcely ever followed up their advantage. They 
went home to enjoy a triumph in their own city, leading 
behind them long strings of prisoners, or, greatest trophy 
of all, the Carroccio of the rival Commune. 

Great delight was taken in insulting one's enemies. A 
favourite means to this end was to shoot the body of an 
ass from the engines of war so that it fell within the walls 
of the hostile city. Another device was to strike money 
in the enemy's territory, or to hold races for a prize 
consisting of a richly embroidered cloth {correr il palio, 
as it was called) around the hostile walls. 

Each city carefully preserved the trophies of its success. 
The great tower of the cathedral at Modena still holds 
the bucket which the horsemen of that city once 
snatched from within the walls of Bologna. The war 
machines of the Bolognese captured on another occasion 
were placed in the cathedral of Parma, and this nearly 
led to a conflict between this city and Modena, which 
had shared in the victory. The Bolognese carried off 
the gates of Imola ; the Perugians did the same to 
Foligno, and, wishing to adorn their cathedral, fell on 
Arezzo and' seized upon the marble columns with which 
the Aretines were preparing to ornament their own. 
One can still see in Perugia the fragments of the chains 
carried off from Siena, and in the cathedral of Siena the 
visitor is still shown the two great masts which bore the 



' One must except the cases where the cities attacked smaller 
communities not recognised by the Peace of Constance. The 
subjugation of Borgo San Donnino by Parma, and of Bobbio by 
Piacenza, will come under this head. 



THE WARS OF THE CITIES 225 

standards on the Florentine Carroccio at Montaperti. ^ 
The chains of the port of Pisa, for long suspended in 
Florence and Genoa, can now be seen on the wall of the 
Campo Santo in Pisa, to which they were restored in our 
own day by the captors as a symbol of Italian unity. 

Scarcely any territorial changes arose from such a 
warfare. The forces were too equally balanced, and the 
intervention of Pope or Emperor or of neighbouring 
Communes led to a mutual restoration of conquests at 
the pacifications which were as numerous as they were 
short-lived. The Mantuans did indeed extend their 
territories south of the Po at the expense of Reggio, and 
Milan won from Como the district between Varese and 
the western shores of the Lake of Lugano, but on the 
whole a map showing the boundaries of the Communes 
in 121 2 will serve with but little alteration until the end 
of the century. 

To-day the Lombard plain stretches out before the 
traveller an endless succession of meadow lands or fields 
of rice and corn, intersected by countless irrigation 
channels, the view constantly interrupted by rows of 
mulberry-trees or of elms on which the vines are trained. 
The land seems like some vast garden set round villages 
or isolated farmhouses, whilst ever and again the smoke 
from some factory chimney ascends against the clear sky. 
The Lombardy over which the forces of the Communes 
raided and fought had the same general features — the vast 
levels, the distant bounding ranges of Alps and Apen- 
nines, the deep blue of the o'erarching sky. But the 
details were very different. Immense forests covered 
much of the plain. The rivers, swollen in spring by the 
melting snow on the mountains, tore great gashes across 
the face of the land, or spread their waters over the levels 
to form swamps thick-grown with a rank vegetation, 
which is still called to mind by the frequent cane breaks 
which cover all uncultivated spots near the watercourses. 
There can have been scarcely any isolated farmhouses ; 
the country population clustered in walled villages under 

' Modern authorities declare that these masts really belong to a 
Sienese Carroccio. 

15 



226 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

the castles of the feudal lords, or gathered in those which 
the policy of the Communes led them to build along 
their frontiers. At frequent intervals, far closer together 
than in any other part of Europe then, or even in most 
lands to-day, the walls of the cities rose above the plain, 
their outline diversified by the lofty and slender towers 
of the nobles, or by the graceful bell towers of the 
churches with their open upper storeys. Round about 
their walls swamp and forest ceased. The careful 
husbandry which distinguishes modern Lombardy had 
begun to take root wherever there was protection from 
hostile inroads. 

Here and there were to be found great monasteries, 
with dependent townships gathered round them. But 
this was rarer in Lombardy than in other countries. 
Italian monasticism on the whole preferred the cities. 
Except for the Irish foundation of Bobbio and a few 
others, the valley of the Po had little to show that could 
compare with Cluny or Clairvaux or Fontevrault, or 
with the princely abbeys which were scattered thickly 
over the country districts of England and the Teutonic- 
speaking lands. 

In spite of the constant turmoil, there was an immense 
increase in the prosperity of the country during the 
period which followed the Peace of Constance. We find 
proofs of this in the notices of the annals telling of the 
extension and embellishment of the cities. The circuit 
of the walls was extended as the swelling population 
overflowed the older limits. Pavia is said to have had 
three successive rings of fortifications by the early 
fourteenth century. Modena increased the circuit of her 
fortifications in 1188. Reggio began to surround herself 
with new walls some forty years later. 

Streets were paved, a thing almost unknown in the rest 
of Europe, canals dug to irrigate the fields, or to supply 
the needs of the various industries. The Naviglio 
Grande, constructed during the struggle with Barbarossa, 
still brings an unfailing supply of water to Milan.^ The 

* Notices of similar canals to bring water to the cities or to draw 
off the overflow of the rivers are frequent in the annals of Modena, 
Reggio, Parma, and other cities. 




Photo.'] 
face page 227. 



COMO. 

Broletto. 



lAlinari. 



THE WARS OF THE CITIES 227 

destructive floods caused by the melting of the Alpine 
snows forced the Lombards from an early period to try 
by means of embankments and canals to gain some con- 
trol over the waters. Thus they gained a skill in engineer- 
ing far in advance of that possessed by all other nations. 

All the cities strove to adorn themselves with public 
buildings. Besides the numerous romanesque cathedrals 
and churches dating from the second half of the twelfth 
and the early years of the thirteenth century, of which 
Cremona, Modena, Parma, amongst others, have preserved 
such fine examples, the public buildings devoted to 
secular uses which were erected at this period bear 
witness to the communal spirit. In every city rose the 
palace of the Commune, often called in Lombardy 
Broletto, sometimes as in Mantua and Verona, Palazzo 
della Ragione, to be the home of the public officials and 
the meeting-place of the various governing counci^s. 
Beside it rose the great bell tower, the outward sign of 
the city's freedom ; projecting over the adjoining Piazza 
was a balcony — the arengo — from which the rulers 
addressed the general assembly of the burghers gathered 
in the open square below. 

Many of these buildings still exist, the glory of the 
cities containing them. The Broletto of Como dates 
from 1215; that of Brescia was finished in 1227. The 
Palazzo della Ragione of Mantua was completed between 
1 198 and 1250 ; the Palazzo del Podesta at Bologna, 
begun in 1201, was not fully finished till 1264. The 
Milanese began the Broletto in 1228. Perhaps the most 
characteristic of all these buildings is the Palazzo della 
Ragione of Verona, dating from 1185, the glorious 
campanile of which bears an inscription saying that it 
was the work of the Commune of Verona — " free, 
prosperous, and victorious." ^ 

Statistics of Milan in the first half of the thirteenth 
century have been preserved to us by Fra Bonvesin da 
Riva, one of the earliest poets in the vulgar tongue. 

' The magnificent hall of the Palazzo della Ragione in Padua, the 
largest vaulted hall unsupported by pillars in the world, was finished 
in 1219. The actual roof dates, however, from 1306. 



228 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

According to him there were thirteen thousand portce 
familiares — probably houses — forty thousand men within 
the city able to bear arms, a total urban population of 
two hundred thousand, four hundred notaries, two 
hundred doctors, two hundred juris-consults or judices, 
eighty schoolmasters, fifty scriptores Librorum — i.e., copiers 
and sellers of books — sixty Platece or Loggie belonging to 
noble families. There were one hundred towers on the 
city wall, one hundred and fifty castles in the Contado 
with dependent villages. There were six thousand wells, 
three thousand mill wheels. Twelve hundred modii of 
flour and seventy oxen were consumed daily. Four 
hundred butchers and as many bakers, with one thousand 
taverns, catered for this population. 

A later writer tells us that in Pavia nearly every house 
had its well ; sanitation was attended to, the streets were 
paved and drained ; the number of towers was innumer- 
able ; there were one hundred and thirty-four churches 
(which he names) within the walls. There were many 
manufactures and much agriculture. The city — this was 
in the days of Pavia's decline — could put in the field two 
or three thousand horse and fifteen thousand or more 
foot-soldiers. 

The wealth needful for the construction of cathedrals 
and palaces was largely derived from manufactures and 
from foreign commerce. The Lombard cities served as 
points of distribution for the commodities brought by 
the Venetians from the East. The wool of England and 
other northern countries was imported in return, and 
woven into the cloth for which Lombardy was famous. 
The growth of the woollen industry was in a great 
measure due to the religious order of the Umiliate. This 
order was at first composed of persons of both sexes 
living in the world. At a later period, when its members 
led a strictly monastic life, they gained their living by 
carrying on various industries, of which cloth-making 
became the chief. 

Como, where their first regular house was established, 
was renowned for its cloth, so were Milan and Parma. 
The steel of Milan was soon to gain a worldwide 



THE WARS OF THE CITIES 229 

fame.^ The silk industry, now one of the chief of Lombard 
industries, came later. The hilly districts abounded in 
wine and oil, agriculture was far in advance of anything 
to be found in the west of Europe. 

Nor must we omit to mention the activities of the 
Lombards as the pioneers of banking. The name 
Lombard Street in London is a memory of the time 
when all bankers and money-changers were known as 
Lombards. The moneylenders of Vicenza were a 
powerful factor in the politics of the city about 1218. 
The citizens of Asti began to lend money in foreign 
countries in 1226. We are told that when, some years 
later, the King of France, irritated by their opposition 
to Charles of Anjou, seized all the property in his 
dominions belonging to citizens of Asti, their losses 
amounted to fifty thousand florins of gold. 

The constant wars of this period were not so destruc- 
tive as we might imagine at first. True, the open country 
suffered terribly from raids in which crops were destroyed 
or carried off, fruit trees cut' down, and unprotected 
villages burned. But such raids were generally hastily 
carried out, and the assailants seldom penetrated close to 
the city walls. The actual loss of life both in open 
warfare and in internal feuds was small. Non-combat- 
ants were almost always respected. When at the capture 
of the castle of Fratta in 1224 by Azzo of Este and the 
Count of San Bonifazio, the whole of the inmates, men, 
women, and children, were put to the sword, the deed 
excited feelings of horror even among their partisans. 
In sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Ireland it was 
thought worthy of special remark when the soldiers of 
the state spared the women and children of a captured 
castle, and the State Papers contain cold-blood records of 
the deliberate slaughter of the unarmed country people of 
districts entered by the royal forces. 

Even in pitched battles there was little bloodshed. 
Quarter was always given ; we hear of thousands of 
captives but seldom of great loss of life. The fate of the 

' There were one hundred master smiths making coats of mail, 
and thirty Fabri sonaclormn according to Fra Bonvesin, 



230 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

prisoners, however, was not an enviable one. The Italian 
was humane after a fashion of his own ; but his humanity 
had definite limits, and he had but little conception of 
chivalry towards a fallen foe. To hasten their ransom 
the captives were thrust into noisome dungeons, or 
exposed in the open air to the inclemency of the 
weather. As the century went on and party feuds 
assumed a bitterer intensity there was a change for the 
worse. We read of prisoners put to death in cold blood 
and of massacres in the streets. The Genoese, after 
their victory over the Pisans at Meloria, passed a law that 
the eight thousand prisoners they had taken should be 
kept in perpetual captivity, so that, the women of Pisa 
being deprived of their husbands and unable to marry 
again, the population of the city might dwindle away. Yet 
the most shocking deeds of violence took place not in 
Lombardy but in the cities of Romagna and Central Italy. 

Warfare outside and factions within the walls might 
have been expected to stifle manufactures and destroy 
trade. Curiously enough, this does not seem to have 
been the case. We know that in many cities where 
feuds raged violently the mass of the artisan classes 
were unaffected by them, and stayed quietly at their 
work while the nobles were assailing one another's 
palaces. Still the fires which were the frequent accom- 
paniment of these riots must often have done great 
damage, and one cannot help wondering at the steady 
growth in the prosperity of the cities in the midst of 
such continual disturbance. 

As for foreign trade, it was carried on in spite of the 
continual warfare. The merchants formed themselves 
into companies for purposes of defence ; the Commune 
gave armed escort to the convoys, and arranged with its 
allied cities for their protection in their territory, and so 
the merchant journeyed by devious routes from one 
friendly town to another until he finally reached one of 
the cities — Verona, Milan, Pavia, or Asti — which had 
access, without much risk of interruption, to one of the 
Alpine passes which led to the great markets for Italian 
wares in France or Germany. 



THE WARS OF THE CITIES 231 

The turbulent existence, which to us would seem 
intolerable, led to the development of all the faculties of 
the burghers of the rising Communes. It was but the 
expression of the immense energy of the Italian mind, 
shaking off the feudal control which still weighed on the 
rest of Europe. The very uncertainties of existence 
called forth the spirit of enterprise in the townsman. 
The rivalry with his neighbours developed an intense 
patriotism ; his bodily powers were strengthened by 
warfare ; he learned to rely upon himself in danger ; his 
mind was sharpened by the keen strife of internal politics. 
The burgher, called to deliberate on war and peace, 
learned to look beyond his own immediate surroundings 
to the great questions of European politics ; he acquired 
a breadth of view and a vigour of mind unknown among 
the urban population of other lands. If the cities could 
have laid aside their jealousies and formed a confedera- 
tion strong enough to resist all external pressure, a period 
of immense material prosperity would no doubt have set 
in. But it would have been at the expense of that 
intense individuality which the city-state calls forth more 
than any other political organisation. 

Amid the strife of the thirteenth century the keen 
Italian intellect was being tempered and sharpened ; the 
individual was able to develop himself to the full extent 
of his attainments. Already the germs were being sown 
which, at a later period when political liberty was giving 
way to servitude, were to blossom forth into the literary 
and artistic splendours which give to Italy in the four- 
teenth and fifteenth centuries the leadership in the history 
of European culture, and which were to culminate in the 
glories of the Renaissance. 



CHAPTER IX 

FREDERICK, THE WONDER OF THE WORLD, AND THE 
SECOND LOMBARD LEAGUE 

Two years after Otho's death the young Frederick, 
having firmly estabHshed his power in Germany, re- 
crossed the Alps in order to receive the Imperial crown. 
During the eight years since 121 2 the Imperial authority 
had been in abeyance in Italy. In fact, except for the 
interval from 12 10 to 121 2, Germany had been distracted 
for over twenty years by the strife of rival claimants to 
the monarchy, and the Communes of Italy had been left 
practically free from external control. During this 
period they had increased and solidified their power, had 
gained confidence in their own strength and experience 
in the conduct of outside affairs. 

This is the fact of primary importance which dis- 
engages itself from the story of the confused warfare of 
which we have treated in the last chapter ; just as the 
real significance of the struggle which was shortly to 
ensue between the Communes and Frederick is that it 
marks the entry into the feudal world of a new and 
democratic element, the burghers of the free cities. The 
latter had learned their strength, and had begun to take 
a part in matters of general European interest. They 
had learned to extend their views beyond their own 
immediate horizon ; we now find them beginning to 
play a role in European history which had before been 
confined to the feudal nobility. 

Frederick appeared in Italy as the close friend and 
ally of the new Pope Honorius III. The Lombards who 
had fallen under the ban of the Church on account of 

232 



THE SECOND LOMBARD LEAGUE 233 

their support of Otho had by this time made their peace 
with the Pope ; consequently no open opposition was made 
to the passage of the ally of the latter. But the Milanese 
still maintained an attitude of sullen suspicion to the 
representative of the House of Hohenstaufen ; and 
Frederick, availing himself of the pretext that the Arch- 
bishop was absent in the Holy Land, judged it more 
prudent not to provoke any expression of open hostility, 
and deferred proceeding to Milan to receive the Iron 
Crown, until he could be sure of a favourable reception. 

Bologna, on the other hand, received him warmly, and 
was rewarded by ample confirmation of her privileges. 
Other cities obtained similar marks of favour ; but 
Frederick was soon to find how little the devotion of 
the Italians was to be relied on. Faenza received him 
splendidly ; but the friendliness of the burghers gave 
place to fierce anger as soon as Frederick showed some 
marks of favour to the rival Commune Forli. 

In Rome he was well received ; the coronation was 
carried out with remarkable pomp, and — a most unusual 
circumstance in the history of such ceremonies — without 
any collision between the Roman populace and the 
Emperor's German followers. 

All the energies of Pope Honorius were directed to 
organising a new Crusade, which the depressed state of 
the Christians in Syria seemed to render urgently 
necessary. Frederick had already, of his own free will, 
assumed the Cross at his coronation at Aachen. While 
Otho lived it was not to be expected that he should seek 
to fulfil his vow, and after the former's death various 
disturbances in Germany had made his presence in that 
country necessary. Now all reason for delay seemed 
removed, and the Pope urged on him the necessity for 
a speedy commencement of the expedition. 

Frederick solemnly renewed his oath ; a part of his 
forces were to start in the following March, he himself 
not later than August, 1221. There seems to be no 
reason to doubt that the young monarch had been 
sincere in his first resolution to take the Cross. His 
present attitude seems less certain. He had learned in 



234 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

the intervening years the necessity for his presence in 
his dominions, if his authority was to be anything more 
than nominal. He now saw clearly that a considerable 
time would be required to establish his power firmly in 
the hereditary territories which he had quitted in 1212. 

Already there were not wanting signs that the unusual 
harmony between Pope and Emperor could not last 
long. One possible source of quarrel had, indeed, been 
removed by Frederick. Not only had he recognised the 
Papal claims to the Patrimony of St. Peter, ^ the Duchy 
of Spoleto, the Mark of Ancona, and the Exarchate of 
Ravenna ; but he had also confirmed to the Holy See 
the heritage of the Countess Matilda, and issued 
decrees for the purpose of putting the Papal officials in 
possession. 

But he had sworn, at the time of his elevation to the 
throne of Germany, that his hereditary dominions of 
Sicily and Apulia should never be united to the German 
Crown. His son Henry was recognised as King of 
Sicily, and during his minority the kingdom was to be 
administered by a regent. Now Frederick had caused 
Henry to be recognised by the princes and prelates as 
his successor in Germany ; and kept in his own hands 
the administration of his hereditary dominions, with 
every intention, as it soon appeared, of re-establishing in 
them a strong centralised government, such as had pre- 
vailed under some of the Norman sovereigns. This 
procedure of Frederick's excited, as was to be expected, 
strong protests from Honorius. The chief desire of the 
Pope, however, was the speedy undertaking of the 
Crusade ; and, making all other considerations sub- 
servient to this, he accepted the excuses of Frederick, 
and allowed the question of the Sicilian kingdom to fall 
into abeyance. 
"*'»»*Jn tracing the career of Frederick H. it would almost 
seem that there was something inexplicable in the malig- 
nant destiny which drove him into conflict with the 
Papacy. The ward of Innocent HI. backed up in his 
early years by all the power of the Church, full of expres- 
The district from Radicofani to Ceperano. 



^ 





THE SECOND LOMBARD LEAGUE 235 

sions of gratitude to "his mother, at whose breast he 
had sucked, and in whose bosom he had reposed," we 
find him gradually estranged from his whileome pro- 
tector, and drifting, almost without any fault of his own, 
into open hostility. He had promised of his own free 
will to undertake the Crusade ; he had invoked against 
himself, again of his own free will, the penalty of excom- 
munication if he did not start by a fixed date. He failed 
to keep his oath, apparently through no fault of his own. 
Excommunicated for not going, excommunicated for 
going, excommunicated for coming back, he was 
solemnly reconciled with the Church ; and once again, 
after a brief period of apparent harmony, the two heads 
of Christendom drifted apart, one can hardly say how. 
Frederick was once again excommunicated, and ended 
his life, in spite of unceasing efforts at reconciliation, in 
deadly enmity with the Holy See. 

Yet perhaps one can find a reason for the apparently 
unjustifiable hostility of the Lombards and the Papacy 
to Frederick. He was gifted in more than common 
measure, so that a contemporary English writer calls him 
stupor mundi, and a modern historian describes him as 
" the most wonderful man in a wonderful age " ; ^ with a 
love of order, a genius for organisation, brave, hard- 
working, a lover of art and literature, and, rarest of all 
in that age, of science, skilled in all accomplishments, all 
his great qualities would seem to have been rendered 
useless to him by one all-pervading vice — duplicity. Its 
existence in him was rather instinctively felt than proved 
by his contemporaries. The Lombards, Pope Honorius, 
later Popes — all are singularly unanimous in regarding all 
his actions with suspicion, in refusing to put faith in his 
most solemn protestations. " No Pope ever let him 
alone," says Freeman ; " it was perhaps an unerring 
instinct which hindered any Pope from ever letting him 
alone." Fra Salimbene declares " He had no faith, was 
a trickster and a deceiver." ^ 

Above all were his contemporaries suspicious of his 

' Matthew Paris and Freeman. 
' " Fu uomo scaltro e furto" (Balzani, p. 254). 



236 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

orthodoxy. In his later years, when he was hopelessly 
embroiled with Rome, we find definite charges brought 
against him — that he denied the immortality of the soul 
and the virgin birth of Christ ; that he said that " Jews, 
Christians, and Saracens had been led away by three 
impostors — Moses, Jesus, and Mahomet — and that he, 
Frederick, would set up a better religion than any of 
them." But it would seem that even early in his reign, 
in spite of his lavish expressions of devotion to the 
Church, in spite of his severe, not to say ferocious laws 
against heresy, men doubted if he were really a Christian. 
And strangely enough, this doubt finds expression not 
merely in Christian writers, but in the pages of the 
Mahomedans who deal from their point of view with 
the history of his Crusade. 

This, then, was the stumbling-block in Frederick's 
career. He could never convince men of his sincerity. 
All his overtures to his enemies were looked on as but 
new proofs of perfidy, all his acts viewed with suspicion, 
and he paid the penalty of the distrust which he inspired. 
He saw his life-work thwarted ; he was unable to obtain 
from his enemies the peace which he desired ; and he 
died a broken, disappointed man at a comparatively 
early age. 

Frederick, as we have seen, had bound himself to start 
for the East by the summer of 1221. But he soon began 
to negotiate with the Pope for an extension of the term. 
Difficulties in collecting a sufficient force ; above all, 
disorders in Apulia rendered it impossible for him to 
fulfil his promise. Then came a revolt of the Saracens 
of Sicily, who were still numerous in the mountainous 
districts of the interior. Their subjugation was a matter 
of considerable difficulty ; and to prevent the recurrence 
of such outbreaks Frederick transported the survivors to 
the mainland, settling as many as sixty thousand, it is 
said, in the city of Lucera, and at a later period a smaller 
number in Nocera. Here, cut off from communication 
with their co-religionists of Africa, and surrounded by a 
hostile population, they became the strongest support of 
the royal power. 



THE SECOND LOMBARD LEAGUE 237 

Five years were consumed in these affairs, and 
Frederick was not yet ready to set out for the Holy Land. 
At a conference between Pope and Emperor at San 
Germano, in the summer of 1225, a new date for the 
departure was agreed upon. Frederick was to sail in 
August, 1227. Should he for any cause whatsoever not 
keep this promise, he was ipso facto to incur the penalty 
of excommunication. 

Everything seemed at last satisfactorily arranged, and 
Frederick was preparing to march into Lombardy at the 
head of a force from Apulia in order to meet the German 
princes to deliberate with them about the Crusade, and to 
provide for the tranquillity of his northern dominions 
during his absence, when his plans were dashed to the 
ground by the unexpected action of the Lombard 
Communes. 

During the preceding years matters in Lombardy had 
gone on in their accustomed way, without much effective 
interference from the Imperial power. As before, Bologna 
fought Modena and Imola ; Reggio, aided by Parma and 
Cremona, was at constant variance with Mantua, which 
was helped by Verona, Ferrara, and Modena. In the 
Mark the Estensi and the Count of San Bonifazio still 
kept up their feud with Salinguerra and the house of 
Romano. In the West, Alessandria and Tortona fell out 
with Genoa, and Alba, Vercelli, and Milan intervened on 
their side, while Asti and the Count of Savoy helped the 
Genoese. 

The peace of 1218 had been followed in Milan and 
Piacenza by the renewal of discord between nobles and 
popolo. The exact course of events in the former city is 
obscure. Four parties would seem to have been in exist- 
ence — the Captains, the Valvassors, the richer burghers, 
and the artisans. Apparently the land-owning nobility 
who formed the first two classes had not coalesced with 
the wealthy merchants to the same degree as in other 
cities. Each party formed, so to speak, a state within 
the state. Associations, bound together by oaths, were 
formed in each party to strengthen their position. Thus 
we hear of a '' Societa dei Gagliardi," or " dei Forti," 



238 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

which would seem to have represented the higher 
nobility, while the Valvassors were bound together in 
a league called the Motta. Then there was the Credenza 
di Sant' Ambrogio, started, as we have seen, in 1198, 
among the artisans. They are said to have built a palace 
with a tower as a place of meeting, set up a regular juris- 
diction of their own, and raised funds for common 
purposes. 

To preserve the unity of the Commune the twelve 
elected consuls were replaced by a foreign Podesta ; but, 
since it often happened that the various factions could 
not agree in their choice, we meet with two or even more 
rival Podestas, each supported by his party. Thus in 12 13 
there were four, in 1222 there were two. Or, again, the 
partisans of the old consular regime would get the upper 
hand, and the consuls would again appear at the head of 
the government. In 1221 the dissensions broke out into 
actual civil war. Captains and Valvassors, as in the days 
of Aribert, left the city, and called to their help the forces 
of Cremona, Lodi, and Mantua. It was not until four 
years later that peace was made by the intervention of 
the Pope, on the basis of a division of offices between 
the nobles and the popolo, under which name were in- 
cluded the richer burghers and the Credenza of Sant' 
Ambrogio. One condition throws a curious light on 
the age. The lower orders now for the first time 
obtained access to the higher dignities of the Church. 
Up to this period the nobles had succeeded in keeping 
these to themselves, and even now they managed to 
secure that the Archbishop should always be chosen 
from the ranks of the nobility. 

The struggle in Piacenza lasted longer, and had 
important results on the external policy of the city. 
Here the milites — i.e., the wealthier classes — when 
opposed by the popolo retired to the hilly country dis- 
tricts, and called to their help the semi-independent 
feudality of the Apennines. From 12 19 to 1226 there 
were four separate quarrels, followed by temporary re- 
conciliations. Peace then lasted for live years, when 
the struggle broke out more violently than ever. The 



THE SECOND LOMBARD LEAGUE 239 

popular party, unable alone to cope with the nobles 
turned to the old enemies of the Commune, They took 
a Podesta from Parma, and got military aid from 
Cremona. Thus they threw themselves into the hands 
of the Imperial or Ghibelline party, as we may now 
fairly call it, of which Cremona and Parma were the 
chief bulwarks in Lombardy, and which was now at 
open variance with the majority of the Lombards headed 
by Milan. Temporary reconciliations, followed by new 
outbreaks, fill up the period till 1236, the year when 
Frederick was preparing once for all to chastise the 
Milanese and their allies. Papal legates brought back 
the nobles to the city after an absence of nearly a year 
They broke the peace almost as soon as they were re- 
admitted, drove out the popular leaders favourable to the 
Emperor, and ranged Piacenza once more on the side of 
Milan. 

The affairs of Piacenza have brought us far past the 
year 1226, to which we must return. When in that year 
Frederick summoned the German princes to meet him at 
Cremona at Easter, 1226, and made preparations to lead 
thither a force from Apulia, the Milanese and their allies 
took alarm. They had long been watching his proceed- 
ings in his southern territories, where, by every means in 
his power, he had been strengthening the royal authority 
and had shown himself in a special manner jealous of 
any show of independence in the cities. Now fearing 
or pretending to fear, that the Imperial visit to Lombardy 
was meant to bring about the overthrow of their liberties 
fifteen cities sent their deputies to a conference nea/ 
Mantua, at which the Lombard League was solemnly 
revived. This new confederacy was formed of Alessan- 
dria and Turin-practically the first appearance of this 
city as a free commune— Milan with her constant allies 
Brescia and Piacenza, the smaller communities of Lodi 
and Vercelli, the four cities of the Veronese Mark— Ber- 
gamo, Mantua, Bologna, and her ally Faenza. Thev 
were soon joined by Crema and Ferrara, and by the 
Marquis of Montferrat, the Count of Biandrate, and 
other feudal lords. 



240 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

This second Lombard League differs very much from 
the first. In the days of Barbarossa the Communes had 
combined under the pressure of intolerable oppression to 
make a last stand for their liberties. Now their con- 
federacy took on a markedly aggressive character. They 
forbade all communication with the Emperor, or with 
the cities which remained in his obedience, assembled 
an army to watch his advance into Lombardy, and 
refused him entry to the cities by which he passed. 
Most hostile step of all, they blocked the defiles leading 
from Trent to Verona, and refused a passage to the 
Emperor's son Henry and the other German princes 
who had reached Trent on their journey to Cremona. 

An attempt of the burghers of this last city to free the 
defiles by an attack from the rear failed, and the Germans, 
after six weeks' delay in Trent, were forced to return home. 

All these proceedings were the more unjustifiable, as 
Frederick had not so far made the slightest attempt to 
violate the conditions of the Peace of Constance. To 
his reproaches, joined to those of the Pope, the Lombards 
could oppose no solid arguments ; they took refuge in 
vague charges, which plainly show that Frederick had 
given them no definite ground of complaint, and that 
their proceedings were based on mere general suspicion 
of his designs. The result was that a severe blow was 
struck at the prospects of the Crusade, and Frederick had 
for the moment no means of chastising the insolence of 
the Lombards. 

The projected Diet at Cremona thus practically failed. 
A few of the German princes had penetrated into Italy by 
way of Carinthia, and the cities hostile to Milan — Parma, 
Modena, Reggio, Asti, Pavia, and Como — sent their depu- 
ties. The Marquis of Este and some other nobles 
attended, so did deputies from Genoa, Lucca, and Pisa. 
Finding the rest of the Lombards obstinate, Frederick 
put them to the ban of the Empire as rebels, and the 
Papal legate pronounced against them the sentence of 
excommunication. 

The Emperor was unwilling, or unable, to proceed to 
open hostilities, and sought the intervention of the Pope. 



THE SECOND LOMBARD LEAGUE 241 

The Lombards also consented to accept his arbitration. 
His decision, given early in 1127, cannot but excite our 
surprise. All offences on both sides were to be forgiven 
and forgotten, and the Communes were to be received 
once more into the Imperial favour, while as their only 
punishment the Lombards were to maintain four hundred 
knights for the Crusade for two years. This sentence 
cannot have failed to anger the Emperor, who saw open 
rebellion and insult to his person thus lightly condoned. 
He was, however, desirous of peace in Italy, and accepted 
the award. The Lombards, on the other hand, neither 
took any measures to supply the knights, nor refrained 
from hostilities against the cities of the Imperial party. 

Before the peace had been ratified Pope Honorius 
died and was succeeded by a nephew of Innocent III., 
who took the name of Gregory IX. He had much of 
the fiery and unbending nature of his uncle, and soon 
showed both Frederick and the Lombards that they had 
to do with a very different personality from that of the 
mild Honorius. 

The time drew on for the Emperor to start for Palestine. 
A considerable army and fleet was gathered near Brindisi. 
All was ready for the departure when a pestilence, brought 
on by the summer heat, broke out among the soldiers 
from more northern climates. In spite of this Frederick 
set sail, but fell ill himself, so that after three days at sea 
he put back, and retired to the neighbourhood of Naples 
to effect a cure. On this news the army, which had been 
collected with such difficulty, dispersed. 

As soon as news of this reached Gregory, he refused to 
see in Frederick's illness anything more than a pretext to 
escape from his engagements, and without delay, in con- 
formity with the treaty of San Germano, he excommuni- 
cated the Emperor. 

The Pope to justify his action issued letters denouncing 
the Emperor's conduct ; the latter, in return, did not 
refrain from vehement reproaches against the Pope him- 
self and the general action of the Papacy. The breach 
between the two heads of Christendom became daily 
wider. In order to prove his sincerity to the world, 

16 



242 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

Frederick redoubled his efforts for the Crusade, and in 
the following August he at length set out from Italy, and 
landed without mishap in Palestine. 

Far from appeasing the Pope, Frederick's attitude only 
brought new excommunications on his head. In Syria 
he obtained by diplomacy more than former Crusaders 
had been able to gain by arms. Jerusalem, Bethlehem, 
and other places were ceded to him by the Sultan. 
But on entering the Holy City, he found that the 
Patriarch had laid the Church of the Holy Sepulchre 
under an interdict, and had once more repeated the 
excommunication. 

In the meantime, in Italy, the Pope had declared the 
crown of Naples vacant, and had got together an army 
which had already overrun a great part of the country. 
Gregory appealed to the Lombards for aid in this enter- 
prise, and received some troops from Milan and Piacenza. 
The Lombards, as a whole, were too much occupied with 
their own immediate affairs to send any substantial help 
to the pontiff. 

The Bolognese had determined on a great effort to 
crush Modena, which had ranged itself on the Imperial 
side. In 1228 a great army took the field. Besides the 
forces of Bologna, contingents came from nine cities of 
Romagna, from Ferrara, even from Florence. Milan, 
Piacenza, and Brescia sent a thousand knights ; even 
Reggio, which had not joined the League, is said to have 
sent troops to fight her old antagonist. The combined 
army entered the territory of Modena, wasted it far and 
wide, and laid siege to the castle of Bazano. The Moden- 
ese army advanced to the relief. With it were arrayed 
the forces of Parma and Cremona, the latter, we are told, 
numbering four thousand foot and one thousand knights. 
By skilful movements they relieved Bazano, and then, 
boldly advancing into the Contado of Bologna, compelled 
the hostile army to retire and defend that city. The 
armies joined in battle at Santa Maria in Strada, and 
after a fight, which lasted till " after the going down of 
the great evening star," the confederate host was scattered 
to the winds. 




A HOHENSTANFEN KnIGHT. 

{From an Almanac of the 12th Century.) 




To face page 242. 



Seal of Frederick II. as King of Jerusalem. 



THE SECOND LOMBARD LEAGUE 243 

Next year the Bolognese repeated the invasion, ranging 
the contingents of fourteen other Communes under their 
banner. Once more the burghers of Modena, Parma, 
and Cremona saUied forth against them. Another battle, 
bloody and long contested, took place. Once more 
fortune smiled on the Imperialist cities. The Bolognese 
were driven in headlong flight, their Carroccio was taken, 
their battering train of mangonels carried in triumph 
to Parma, and placed as a monument of victory in the 
cathedral of that city. These disasters forced Bologna 
to consent to a truce for eight years. 

They also brought about a revolution in the city itself. 
The trades guilds, exasperated by the ill success of the cam- 
paign, which they attributed to the incompetence of the 
ruling aristocracy, demanded a share in the government. 
This they obtained after the usual tumultuous street fight- 
ing. A conflict with the Bishop over the jurisdiction 
in the Church lands followed soon on this. It brought 
down on the city a Papal interdict, which seems to have 
had hardly any effect on the Bolognese, so far had the 
spirit of independence, even in religious matters, taken 
root in the Communes.^ 

In the meantime a general war had been raging in 
Piedmont, interrupted by peaces, or rather truces, 
broken almost as soon as made. Genoa, Asti, the Mar- 
quis of Montferrat, and the Count of Savoy were leagued 
against Alessandria, Alba, Tortona, and Vercelli. Asti 
met with more than one disaster in this contest, a 
thousand of her citizens being carried ofif to the dun- 
geons of Alessandria, from which few of them returned. 
The Milanese led an army, collected from the members 
of the League, to the aid of Alessandria. The chronicler 
of Asti relates that the lands of that city were laid waste 
by no less than twenty-three allied cities. Montferrat 
was also devastated ; but on the whole the confederates 
accomplished little. They penetrated, however, far up 

' Henceforth the popolo at Bologna was organised under the 
Anziani, or heads of the guilds. There were also two councils of 
the popolo, corresponding to the Consiglio di Credenza and the 
Consiglio Generale of the Commune. 



244 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

the valley of the Stura where, in order to hold the 
feudal lords of this region in check, a town was founded 
on a wedge-shaped piece of land — from which came 
its name Cuneo — into which the inhabitants of the 
surrounding villages were gathered. 

In the meantime Frederick had returned to Southern 
Italy. Landing in the summer of 1229, he soon had 
driven the Papal troops from the greater part of his 
dominions. He showed himself desirous of peace ; the 
Pope, too, finding that the Lombards could not, or would 
not, send any considerable forces to his help, was inclined 
to an accommodation. All was soon satisfactorily arranged; 
and in the summer of 1230 a treaty, signed at San Ger- 
mano, put an end to the contest between Pope and 
Emperor. A general amnesty was proclaimed, the feuds 
in Lombardy were for the moment stilled, and a friendly 
meeting of Gregory and Frederick at Anagni set the seal 
to their reconciliation. 

The Lombards, as we have said, had given no substan- 
tial help to the Pope. But Frederick's return had caused 
them, in December, 1229, to renew the League, and they 
still maintained a defiant attitude towards him. To 
restore his influence in Lombardy was now the Emperor's 
chief aim. For this purpose he summoned a Diet, to be 
held at Ravenna late in the year 1231, at which all the 
Communes were to appear, as well as the German princes 
and the young King Henry. 

The Pope wrote to exhort the Lombards to obedience. 
But once more they declared that they could not trust 
Frederick, got together an army, and again blocked the 
passes. The assembly therefore came to nothing ; and 
the offending Communes were once more put to the ban 
of the Empire. In order to confer with his German 
subjects Frederick had to take ship to Friuli, a pretty 
clear proof that he had not come to Ravenna with any 
force sufficient to justify the suspicions of the Lombards. 
Whilst in this territory he received overtures which were 
destined to bring about a complete change in his position 
in Lombardy. To explain this clearly it will be necessary 
to retrace our steps a little, and to take up at some length 
the course of affairs in the Mark. 



THE SECOND LOMBARD LEAGUE 245 

We have already seen how the death of Azzo VL of 
Este and of the Count of San Bonifazio had given the 
preponderance in the Mark to their adversaries. Salin- 
guerra had returned to Ferrara, where the young Aldro- 
vandino of Este was forced to share the control of the 
city with him. The Montecchi had returned to Verona, 
but, on the other hand, Ezzelino's adversaries had been 
readmitted to Vicenza. This bringing back of the exiles 
seems to have been the work of Padua, which, free from 
internal dissensions and under a more democratic govern- 
ment than the other Communes, aspired to the leadership 
of the Mark. 

Treviso was also free from internal strife. She was 
friendly to Ezzelino, and devoted herself to an aggressive 
policy against the Patriarch of Aquileia and the Bishop 
of Feltre and Belluno, which brought her more than 
once into collision with Padua, where these prelates 
had obtained burgher rights as a protection against 
attack. 

Vicenza and Verona were torn by factions among 
the nobles, complicated in the former city by the 
emergence of a democratic party. The restored exiles 
soon grew strong in Vicenza, and expelled Ezzelino 
and his party in 12 14. These remained in exile for 
four years, when Padua brought about their recall. 
They were expelled again almost immediately, and 
sought to return by force of arms. Under the leadership 
of Ezzelino's son, Ezzelino IIL, they gained a brilliant 
victory at Bressanvido. 

This is the first notable exploit in which the future 
tyrant of the Mark figures. Born in 1194, he had early 
given evidence of his capacity. A daring soldier, he was 
no less skilled in the arts necessary for the Italian 
party leader. Constant in adversity, prudent in success, 
able to dissemble his feelings, but incapable of forgetting 
a wrong, he had as yet given no sign of the pitiless 
nature which in later times was to turn him into a 
monster and to attach to his name undying associations 
of horror. 

Padua again brought about a peace. The exiles 



246 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

returned to Vicenza, and Ezzelino sold to that city the 
important castle of Marostica for the immense sum of 
forty thousand pounds. 

In the meantime peace had reigned in Verona, which 
was strengthened by the marriage of the young Ezzelino 
to the sister of Count Richard of San Bonifazio, who 
at the same time married Ezzelino's sister the famous 
Cunizza. Soon after this Ezzelino II. retired to a 
monastery, without, however, withdrawing from all 
intervention in politics. 

This reconciliation of the two factions, which coincided 
with the general pacification which followed on the death 
of Otho, was first broken in Ferrara. The partisans of 
Azzo VII. of Este, who had succeeded his brother Aldro- 
vandino, attacked Salinguerra, burned his palace, and 
drove him out. After a few days peace was made ; 
Salinguerra returned, and next year his adversaries were 
expelled in their turn. 

In the meantime the people of Vicenza had formed 
an association to break the power of the ruling aristo- 
cracy. The leader of the movement was a Brescian, 
of the noble house of the Martinenghi ; and his native 
city sent him a detachment of two hundred horse to 
help him to overawe the Vicentine nobles. Ezzelino 
had begged the Count of San Bonifazio to prevent these 
troops reaching Vicenza ; he refused, and the old feud 
broke out again. The first consequence was the expulsion 
from Verona of Ezzelino's faction the Montecchi. 

San Bonifazio, helped by Mantua and Padua, now 
joined Azzo in an attack on Salinguerra. The latter, 
by a piece of treachery, made the Count a prisoner ; and 
the contest was further embittered when at the capture 
of Fratta Azzo's forces massacred all the inhabitants, 
sparing neither age nor sex. The Mark was once more 
thrown into confusion by the contending factions. 

At this time a new party arose in Verona called the 
" Quattroventi," or " Twenty-Four." ^ They combined 
with the Montecchi, and while the Count was still a 

' Some writers, notably Gittermann, take the Twenty-Four to have 
been a popular association. More probably they were nobles. 




Marostica, 



page 246. 



THE SECOND LOMBARD LEAGUE 247 

prisoner, restored them to the city. As usual, the 
returned exiles did not long keep the peace. At Christ- 
mastime, 1225, the allies attacked the Count's party, 
and after several days' street fighting gained control of 
the city. Ezzelino seems to have taken no part in this 
rising ; but a treacherous attack on him by the Count, 
who had been freed from his captivity in Ferrara, led 
him once more to appear as the leader of the Montecchi. 
The Count and his chief partisans were seized, and 
Ezzelino became completely master of the city. 

Sismondi, Leo, and Italian writers following them 
have described Ezzelino the Monk and his more famous 
son as the leaders of the Ghibelline or Imperial party 
in the Mark. According to them, the opposite faction, 
that of Este and San Bonifazio, represented the Guelf 
cause. They farther assert that the former stood at 
the head of the feudal aristocracy, while the latter led 
the more democratic burgher party. 

An examination of the facts, however, clearly shows 
that there is no ground whatsoever for these assertions. 
Quite the contrary. The House of Romano had, so 
far, always been in opposition to the Hohenstaufen 
Emperors. Ezzelino the Stammerer had been one of the 
Rectors of the first Lombard League ; a special clause 
pardoning him was considered necessary by the framers 
of the Peace of Constance. Ezzelino the Monk and his 
supporter Salinguerra had been the allies of Milan in 
opposing Frederick II. On the other hand, Azzo VI. 
of Este had been the ally of Parma and Cremona, 
with which latter city he had concluded an alliance 
on behalf of Ferrara as early as 1208 ; and it was 
he who had organised the League of 121 2 between 
Ferrara, Mantua, Verona, and Cremona in opposition to 
Frederick's adversary Otho. 

Salinguerra had made his peace with Frederick's 
patron. Innocent III., by 12 15, but Ezzelino was not 
reconciled to the Church till 1220, and no doubt then 
made a formal submission to Frederick. Yet neither 
of them seems to have taken any steps towards a full 
reconciliation with the young Emperor. Azzo III. of 



248 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

Este and the young Count of San Bonifazio, on the 
other hand, appeared at court in 1220, when both 
received signal marks of the Imperial favour. The 
former was freed, by Imperial decree, from the conditions 
imposed on his brother by Padua in 1213. The latter 
received a most ample charter confirming him in all 
his rights, especially in the countship of Verona, and 
the jurisdiction over certain classes of the citizens, 
notably the bakers and butchers, which he claimed in 
virtue of that office. 

Moreover, in 1226, Verona, which, as we shall see, 
was then entirely in the hands of Ezzelino and the 
Montecchi, joined the Lombard League, and must have 
borne the chief part in blocking the defiles of the 
Adige. Ferrara, too, joined the League ; and since 
1225 Salinguerra's authority had been solidly established 
in that city.'^ 

As to their respective positions with regard to the 
aristocratic and popular parties, the Estensi stood at 
the head of the feudal nobility in the Mark, and had 
still independent rule in the district between Adige and 
Po. The Count of San Bonifazio was not only the 
greatest feudal noble in the diocese of Verona, but 
also claimed to be Count of the city, and still actually 
possessed some of the rights attacking to that dignity, 
a case probably unique at this period in Lombardy. He 
held the same position towards Verona as the Counts 
of Lomello and Biandrate, respectively, had held, more 
than a generation previously, towards Pavia and Novara. 

The Montecchi, Ezzelino's party in Verona, though 
themselves feudal nobles, seem to have been allied 
with the merchants and rich burghers, if not with the 
lower orders in general.^ Salinguerra, we are expressly 
told, was supported by the democratic party in Ferrara. 
In Vicenza the House of Romano first appears as 
supporting the party of the Vivarii against the Count 

^ Azzo of Este attended the Diet at Cremona in 1226. He was, 
therefore, then hostile to the League. 

"^ For when the Montecchi were expelled in 1206 their houses 
and those of the merchants were alike destroyed. 



THE SECOND LOMBARD LEAGUE 249 

of Vicenza, then on the side of the Count and then 
once more on the side of the Vivarii. It seems more 
probable that here the Count's party would represent 
the country nobles. The democratic movement in 
Vicenza between 1218 and 1226 seems, however, to 
have been more obnoxious to the Vivarii than to 
their opponents. In this city, then, we may allow that 
Ezzelino III. and his brother Alberic really did appear 
as the adversaries of the popular party. 

It is true that, by the change of policy of which we 
shall soon have to speak, Ezzelino ranged himself finally 
on the Imperial side, and that, as the chief upholder of 
Frederick's cause in the Mark, his name was identified 
for more than twenty years with the party which adopted 
the name of Ghibelline. He drew Salinguerra after him, 
and his hereditary enemies, Este and San Bonifazio, at 
once embraced the party of the cities leagued against 
Frederick. The Pope quarrelled with Frederick, so that 
once more Pope and Lombards were allied against the 
Emperor, and the House of Este henceforward leads the 
Papal or Guelfic party in the Mark. Este and Romano 
being thus the two protagonists in the struggle in this 
part of Italy, later historians have tried to work their 
early private quarrels into some relation with the parts 
they afterwards played, and into connection with the 
greater struggle between the Papacy and the Empire 
and the lesser one between aristocracy and democracy in 
the Communes. The Ezzelini appear as Ghibellines and 
aristocrats, the Estensi as Guelfs. But, even granting 
that the names Ghibelline and Guelf had come into use 
at all in the days of Ezzelino the Monk, nothing can be 
clearer than that, for the first quarter of the thirteenth 
century, it is the Ezzelini who are the opponents, the 
Estensi who are the supporters of the House of 
Hohenstaufen. 

The beginning of the year 1226 saw Ezzelino and his 
faction masters of Verona. Then came the renewal of 
the Lombard League, to which confederacy Verona 
adhered in April. We cannot doubt that the city took 
the chief part in closing the defiles of the Adige against 



250 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

the Germans during ^the summer ; and for its contumacy 
it was excommunicated and put to the ban of the Empire 
along with its allies. 

The negotiations which followed between the Emperor 
and the Lombards by removing the danger of an attack 
from Germany relaxed the discipline which had bound 
the confederates together. The popular party in Vicenza 
had for some years been struggling against the nobles. 
They obtained assistance from Padua, and to secure their 
hold on the city set burghers of that city to garrison the 
towers of the Vivarii and other partisans of the House of 
Romano. These sought help from Ezzelino. On an 
appointed day they rushed to arms, and attacked their 
own houses. Ezzelino hurried with his forces from 
Verona, the towers were captured, and the nobles were 
once more masters of Vicenza. Alberic of Romano was 
installed as Podesta ; and the lords of Romano once 
more acquired a commanding position in the Mark. 

In the meantime the Count of San Bonifazio had 
escaped from captivity. The League desired above all 
things to maintain union in the Mark ; and, feeling sure 
of Ezzelino, they wished to win the Count over to their 
party, as they had gained the lords of Biandrate and 
Montferrat. Besides, Mantua was a prominent member 
of the League, and the Count enjoyed in a special 
degree the favour of the burghers of that city. 

The League, therefore, opened negotiations for the 
return of the Count and his supporters to Verona. They 
succeeded. Ezzelino laid down the Podestaship, and 
withdrew ; all existing parties in the city were dissolved, 
and every Veronese was to swear never to revive them. 
Strange to say this oath was kept for nearly three years. 

Ezzelino, having yielded to the wishes of the League 
as regards Verona, sought an outlet for his restless energy 
in an attack on the Camposampieri. They were citizens 
of Padua, which at once embraced their cause. The 
burghers, nobles, and commons alike flocked to the 
general assembly ; many noble ladies joined the throng ; 
the Carroccio was drawn into the Piazza amid scenes of 
wild enthusiasm ; and a great force advanced on Bassano. 



THE SECOND LOMBARD LEAGUE 251 

Yielding to the advice of his father, who pointed out to 
him that at present he was no match for the mighty 
Padua, but that by biding his time he might hope to see 
not only that city but all the Mark at his mercy, Ezzelino 
bent before the storm, and swore to give back to the 
Camposampieri the captured castle of Fonte. " I myself 
saw him," says Rolandino, "riding on a tall war-horse 
through the waves of the Brenta ; but the Podesta who 
was awaiting him on the bank did not allow him to come 
to the shore." Sitting his horse in the river he took 
the oath. 

While swearing to the peace, Ezzelino thought only of 
vengeance. He had detected many burghers of Treviso 
among the ranks of the Paduans, and vowed to make 
that city smart as a whole for the treachery, as he 
regarded it, of individuals. With this end in view, 
he craftily urged Treviso to attack the Bishop of Feltre 
and Belluno. The Trevisans seized these towns ; while 
Ezzelino, falling on the lords of Camino, deprived them 
of most of their castles. The aggrieved parties were 
burghers of Padua ; and that city once more took the 
field against Treviso and her dangerous ally. Ezzelino 
had stirred up a greater storm than he had foreseen. 
The Paduans wasted the lands of Treviso far and wide, 
and passed a decree that the devastation was to be 
repeated twice in each year. In this way Ezzelino had 
brought down punishment on Treviso. But he was him- 
self involved in the calamities of that city. His lands 
were ravaged and his castles destroyed. Treviso was 
forced to sue for peace ; Ezzelino's influence in the city 
was seriously impaired. The League, and the Paduans 
in particular, began to regard him as a dangerous fire- 
brand whose influence in the Mark seemed fatal to any 
hope of lasting peace. 

More misfortunes followed for the House of Romano. 
Alberic was driven from Vicenza in 1229 by the inter- 
vention of Padua and Verona ; and following on this 
came a revolt of the serfs on his domains. They seized 
Bassano, which town, the main seat of the power of the 
Romanos, was only recovered by the most strenuous 



252 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

exertions of the two brothers. In the space of barely 
three years the House of Romano had fallen from the 
arbiters of the Mark to the position of country nobles 
threatened on all sides by hostile Communes. 

The most sudden changes of fortune are characteristic 
of Italian history. Before a year had passed Ezzelino 
was once more ruler of Verona. After his departure 
from that city in 1227 a new personage appears on the 
scene, a certain Julian, the head of an association of 
which we know nothing except that it obtained complete 
control of the government. 

It would seem that, during the previous years of strife, 
the public offices had been monopolised by the nobles of 
whatever faction had been uppermost for the moment. 
The " Communanza," or society of which Julian was 
Rector or head, now brought it about that in future a list 
should be made of the milites or nobles, and of all those 
who had horses and military equipment and property to 
the extent of 1,000 lire, and that the public offices should 
be filled from those whose name was on the list, until all 
had served in turn. Thus the constitution was placed on 
a more democratic basis, although the mass of the people 
were still shut out from a share in the government. 

Julian was hostile to the Romanos, and, as we have 
seen, drove Alberic from Vicenza. After a period of 
nearly three years, during which Verona had enjoyed 
internal peace, he vanishes from the scene as suddenly 
as he had appeared. The Count of San Bonifazio had 
also suffered at his hands, and now once more made 
a bid for supremacy. A first outbreak, at Easter, 1230, 
was quieted by the banishment of the chiefs both of the 
Montecchi and the Count's party. They soon returned. 
In July a new tumult took place, and the Count seized 
the Palace of the Commune. His opponents flew to 
arms ; numbers seem to have been on their side ; the 
Palace was stormed ; and the Count with many of his 
adherents fell once more into the hands of his enemies. 
Salinguerra became Podesta ; Ezzelino returned to 
Verona, and became practically master of the city. 

The neighbouring Communes — Padua, Mantua, and 



THE SECOND LOMBARD LEAGUE 253 

Vicenza — friendly to the Count, or hostile to Ezzelino — 
flew to arms in support of the Count's party, most of 
whom had escaped and fortified themselves in the castle 
of San Bonifazio. They fell on the Veronese territory 
from all sides, and wasted it horribly. Ezzelino replied 
by announcing his intention of starving the Count to 
death. Some of the captives, it is said, actually perished 
from hunger ; the Count himself, if we are to believe 
Gherardo Maurisio, owed his life to the old Ezzelino the 
Monk, who left his cloister in order to persuade his son 
to clemency, and, finding his efforts fruitless, found 
means to supply his former enemy with food. 

The interposition of the League, joined to a new inroad 
from Padua and Mantua, at length secured the liberation 
of the Count, after, as it would seem, a year's captivity. 
Now that Frederick was once more turning his attention 
to Lombardy, and had summoned the Germans to meet 
him at Ravenna, the League was more than ever inte- 
rested in preserving tranquillity in the Mark. With this 
end in view, a separate league was organised, comprising 
Padua, Brescia,' Mantua, Vicenza, and Ferrara. Its special 
mission was to maintain peace in Verona, which city was 
invited also to adhere to it. Ezzelino and Alberic were 
also to be admitted to this league, apparently as feudal 
lords of Bassano and Romano. 

Once more the contending factions went through the 
form of a reconciliation. The Count was to be kept in 
the custody of the League until the castle of San Boni- 
fazio was surrendered to the Commune of Verona ; but, 
on the other hand, Ezzelino was to leave the city. 

The Count was handed over to the Lombards, swore 
to the League and was liberated ; but his castle was not 
given up to Verona. In the meantime Ezzelino the Monk 
had fallen under the suspicion of heresy, and the 
Pope had incited the Paduans to attack the possessions 
of his sons in order to get possession of his person. The 
younger Ezzelino now asked for admission to the separate 
League to protect himself from this attack. But the 
deputies of certain cities protested against this. Only 
the threat of Ezzelino's envoy, the historian Maurisio, 



254 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

that farther opposition would force his master to go over 
to the side of the Emperor, and so admit the Germans 
by the Val Sugana into Bassano and the lands of Vicenza 
and Treviso, caused them to accede to his request. 

But this conciliatory step came too late. The League 
had twice forced him to retire from Verona ; they had 
received his enemy the Count into their association. 
Ezzelino was at last convinced that the confederate 
cities would never allow him to hold the mastery over 
Verona for which he had been striving. He therefore 
turned to Frederick. He is said to have opened nego- 
tiations with the Emperor during the latter's stay at 
Ravenna. In the spring of 1232 Frederick was in 
Friuli, and here the definite compact was made. Ezze- 
lino abandoned his former allies, and engaged himself 
to hold Verona for the Emperor, who, on his side, pro- 
mised to send troops to protect the city from the 
Lombards. The Milanese Podesta of Verona, dis- 
trusting the attitude of Ezzelino's partisans, had ordered 
them to renew the oath to the League. Ezzelino has- 
tened back to the city, won over the Montecchi and their 
following to his change of side, stormed the Palace of 
the Commune, and once more made himself master 
of Verona. An Imperial officer was received within 
the walls, and he was followed by a force of knights 
and Saracen bowmen sufficient to repel any sudden 
attack from the League. Thus the position of affairs in 
the Mark was changed with startling rapidity, and the 
door into Lombardy opened for the German armies. 

The defection of Verona and Ezzelino from the League 
materially strengthened Frederick's position. Troubles 
in the south, however, claimed his immediate attention, 
and for the present he took no active measures against 
the Lombards. In the meantime Mantua and Padua fell 
on Verona and ravaged its territory. The Marquis of 
Este, too, arrayed himself on the side of the League. 
Treviso, on the other hand, without seceding from the 
League, supported Ezzelino. In the warfare which fol- 
lowed, while the Mantuans wasted the lands of Verona, 
the Paduans advanced against the territories of Ezzelino 



THE SECOND LOMBARD LEAGUE 255 

and Alberic, and inflicted a pretty severe defeat on 
Treviso. 

The Pope now intervened in the cause of peace. Two 
Cardinals appeared at Padua, and the Lombards agreed 
to submit their differences with Frederick to the Papal 
decision. The Legates then proceeded to Verona, and 
in Ezzelino's absence restored the Count's party. Ezze- 
lino hastened back and expelled them again, whereupon 
he was excommunicated. More attacks on Verona fol- 
lowed, until Ezzelino, with the help of Treviso and the 
nobles of Vicenza, gained some decided successes over 
his enemies. 

The Papal decision was made known in June, 1233. 
It was practically identical with the one formerly given 
by Pope Honorius, except that the Lombards were now 
to furnish five hundred knights for the Holy Land. 
Frederick was naturally indignant at this verdict, which 
seems dictated not by the merits of the case, but by a 
desire on the Pope's part to win support in Lombardy 
in the case of another breach between Papacy and 
Empire. If Frederick should crush the League he 
would be master of Italy to a degree attained to by 
none of his predecessors since the days of the Henrys, 
and the Papacy would be entirely at his mercy. We see 
here the beginnings of that policy which led the Popes 
to combat in every way the setting up in Italy of any- 
thing like a strong central power ; if we should not 
rather call it the revival of the policy which had led 
former pontiffs to call in the Franks against the Lom- 
bards and to lend support to the Norman rulers of the 
south. 

Loud though Frederick's complaints were he accepted 
the verdict. Not so the Lombards, who sought by pro- 
crastination to evade even the small concessions which 
they were ordered to make. To recover Verona was to 
them of prime importance. The means they adopted 
to this end led to one of the most curious episodes in 
the varied history of the Mark. 

- jThe newly founded Dominican and Franciscan orders 
had devoted themselves to the healing of the feuds which 



256 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

vexed the Communes. The Itahans, always susceptible 
to eloquence, were moved by their preaching to recon- 
ciliations, usually, we must confess, as short-lived as they 
were sudden. Now a Dominican, Fra Giovanni, from 
Schio, near Vicenza, came forward to pacify the Mark. 
He had brought about a settlement of the dispute 
between the Commune and Bishop of Bologna, and 
was looked upon as a saint in that city, where many 
tales were told of the wonders he had worked. The 
Paduans went to welcome him at Monselice, placed 
him on the Carroccio and brought him in triumph to 
the city, where he healed many private feuds. Then 
he reconciled Treviso with the lords of Camino and 
her other enemies. In Vicenza he was given the lord- 
ship of the city, and after reforming the government 
with arbitrary power, summoned a general assembly 
to meet him at Paquara, near Verona, in August, 1233, 
for the purpose of putting an end to all public and 
private enmities, and especially to regulate the affairs 
of Verona. 

An attack in June by an army supplied by Milan, 
Brescia, Mantua, Bologna, and Faenza had made that 
city disposed to treat. Giovanni was welcomed as a 
heaven-sent messenger of peace, brought back the Count 
and his followers, freed Ezzelino from the excommunica- 
tion, and was given the custody of the castles of the 
contending factions. But his success began to turn his 
head. His proceedings in Vicenza had already roused 
opposition ; he now caused himself to be recognised as 
ruler of Verona, and, mounting the Carroccio of the city 
in the market-place, assumed the titles of Duke and 
Podesta of Verona. Like most of the cities of Lom- 
bardy at this period, Verona was full of heretics, and 
Fra Giovanni inaugurated his rule by burning on the 
charge of heresy sixty men and women of the principal 
families in the Piazza dell' Erbe. 

The day for the great assembly drew near. An 
immense multitude gathered on the plain of Paquara, 
on the banks of the Adige, below Verona. There were 
present the Patriarch of Aquileia, nine Bishops ; the 



THE SECOND LOMBARD LEAGUE 257 

lords of Este, of Romano, and other nobles ; the 
Carroccios of Verona, Mantua, Brescia, Padua, Vicenza, 
surrounded by the entire population of those cities ; 
countless numbers from Venice, Ferrara, Treviso, 
Bologna, and even from distant Modena, Reggio, and 
Parma ranged round their standards. A contemporary 
writer estimates at four hundred thousand the numbers 
present ; another declares that not until all mankind are 
assembled in the Valley of Jehoshaphat will such a 
multitude ever be gathered together again. 

To this great host Fra Giovanni preached from the 
text, " My peace I leave you. My peace I give you," and 
his voice, we are told, was distinctly heard even to the 
farthest limits of the assembly. A bodyguard of armed 
Bolognese surrounded him to keep off the pressure of 
the crowd. The effect of his words was immense. The 
whole assembly was filled with compunction for their 
past offences, and displayed their sorrow by sobs and 
cries of penitence. Old enemies were reconciled, and 
falling on each other's necks demanded pardon for the 
past ; the feuds of generations seemed to have vanished 
before the burning words of the monk. The more 
weighty matters in dispute were submitted to the 
arbitration of Fra Giovanni. Measures were taken to 
remedy the political disorders of the Mark. Ezzelino 
was reconciled with Padua, and a marriage was arranged 
between Alberic's daughter and the son of the Marquis 
of Este. 

This peace, so acclaimed by all, lasted just five days. 
The Paduans saw with dislike the position which Fra 
Giovanni had acquired in Vicenza, and now that the first 
burst of enthusiasm had cooled the former political 
leaders of that city were beginning to long once more 
for the power they had laid aside. A riot broke out, 
instigated by Padua. Fra Giovanni hurried to Vicenza, 
and being favoured by a large body of the citizens began 
to attack the towers of the authors of the disturbance. 
He had already got possession of a large part of the city 
when the arrival of a force from Padua changed the day. 
His partisans were driven out and he himself taken 

17 



258 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

prisoner. The former constitution of the city was 
restored, and parties stood once more as they had 
been before the monk's intervention. 

As soon as news reached Verona of Fra Giovanni's ill 
fortune the crafty Ezzelino rushed to arms, and asserting 
that the Count's faction were privy to the intrigue of 
Padua in Vicenza, he stirred up the mob against them 
and cast the chief among them into prison. Then he 
hastened to Vicenza to release the monk. This he 
effected by exchanging for him those whom he had 
arrested in Verona. Ezzelino now appeared as the 
champion of Fra Giovanni, who, on his side, by his 
failure at Vicenza, was exposed to the derision of 
all, and they were many, who were opposed to his 
mission of pacification. Great as were his gifts as a 
preacher, his ambition and his greed for worldly titles 
caused the sceptical among his contemporaries to mock 
at his pretensions to sanctity. He did not show himself 
equal to the task he had set himself. His head was 
turned by his sudden successes, and he was tempted 
to abandon a spiritual career for a political one, for 
which his very virtues rendered him unfit. 

Fra Giovanni remained for some time longer at 
Verona ; but the real ruler was once more Ezzelino. 
The Count's party again left the city. The last act of 
the monk was to induce the Bolognese to withdraw 
their garrisons from the castles in the Veronese district. 
Then he retired to Bologna, and so vanishes from our 
history. 

War once more broke out in the Mark. On the one 
side were Ezzelino and Treviso, on the other Padua and 
the lords of Camino. Then the Count of San Bonifazio, 
with the Lombards, chiefly the men of Brescia and 
Mantua, pressed plundering and burning up to the walls 
of Verona. The interposition of the Venetians brought 
about yet another peace ; and Alberic fulfilled one of the 
conditions of the peace of Paquara by giving his daughter 
in marriage to the young Rinaldo of Este. 

Negotiations were still dragging on between the Pope 
and the Lombards with a view to a reconciliation between 



THE SECOND LOMBARD LEAGUE 259 

the League and the Emperor. In spite of Gregory's 
representations the confederates would not desist from 
attacks on the cities friendly to Frederick. The latter, 
wishing to show a mark of his favour to the Cremonese, 
had sent to their city a number of elephants, camels, and 
other Eastern animals, which he took great pleasure in 
collecting. The Milanese and their allies made an attempt 
to carry them off on the way from Parma to Cremona. 
The burghers of the latter city hurried forward to protect 
the convoy. Contingents from Reggio, Modena, Parma, 
and Pavia came to their aid, and a pitched battle was 
fought at Zenevolta, with no very definite result, except 
that the animals arrived safely at their destination. We 
hear of Piacentines on both sides, the popular party, no 
doubt, helping their allies of Cremona, the nobles faith- 
ful to their traditional friendship with Milan. At the same 
time Bologna broke the truce with Modena, laid waste 
its territory, and brought about a revolt of the nobles of 
Frignano. 

After endless delays the Lombards professed to yield 
to the exhortations of the Pope, who was still pressing 
for a new Crusade ; and at last declared their readiness 
to accept his decision on the points at issue with the 
Emperor. This was in October, 1234. ^ ^^^ weeks 
later came startling evidence of their perfidy. News 
arrived that the Emperor's son, Henry, had raised the 
standard of revolt in Germany, and had been recognised 
as King of Italy by Milan and her allies. 

Henry had already excited suspicions as to his loyalty. 
One of Frederick's reasons for his visit to Friuli in 1232 
had been to inquire into his conduct, and to take 
measures to secure his obedience. Henry had given 
all outward assurances of fidelity ; but soon began again 
to intrigue against his father. He found but little support 
ia Germany, therefore he turned to the discontented 
Lombards. In December, 1234, his envoys concluded 
a treaty in Milan by which that city, with Brescia, Lodi, 
Novara, Bologna, and the Marquis of Montferrat recog- 
nised him as King. In return he promised to recognise 
the League, to guarantee their immunities, and to espouse 



260 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

their quarrels with the Communes of the opposite party. 
This treaty, showing to what lengths the Lombards were 
prepared to go, may be said to have made a reconciliation 
with the Emperor impossible. 

Frederick took instant action to crush the rebellion. 
He hastened into Germany, while the Pope addressed 
letters to the prelates of that country denouncing all who 
opposed the Emperor. The revolt collapsed on his 
appearance, and Henry, taken prisoner, ended his days 
in captivity in an Apulian castle. 

The Lombards, however, obstinately persisted in their 
hostility ; and the League was solemnly renewed in 1235 
by Milan and ten other cities.^ The Pope did not yet 
despair of peace, and sought by his legates to induce the 
Lombards to submit. But his conduct only served to 
excite grave suspicions in Frederick's mind, while he 
made no impression on the Lombards. Frederick com- 
plained that Gregory was unduly lenient towards the 
League, while exacting too many concessions from him, 
the aggrieved party ; and he began to cast doubts on the 
Pope's impartiality. 

The affairs of Germany and his marriage with Isabella, 
daughter of Henry III. of England, detained Frederick 
north of the Alps for more than a year. In the mean- 
time he nearly lost his hold on Verona. 

Papal envoys again appeared in the Mark to pacify the 
factions of that city. The League, relying on their secret 
hostility to the Emperor, or trusting to deceive them, 
hoped by their means to win Verona back to their con- 
federacy. The city submitted to them, and a Podesta 
from Perugia took over the government in the name of 
the Church. The Count's party were brought back, and 
Ezzelino once again left the city. 

About the same time, too, Alberic was forced to leave 
Vicenza. The factions in that city had broken out again 
soon after the downfall of Era Giovanni, and Alberic's 
enemies had brought about the election of Azzo of Este 
as Podesta for 1235. He expelled the chief adherents of 

' Milan, Lodi, N ovar a, Como, Alessandria, Brescia, Treviso, Padua, 
Ferrara, Bologna, and Faenza. 



THE SECOND LOMBARD LEAGUE 261 

the Romanes, and continued to make war on them in their 
castles. 

All this happened before the peace which the Venetians 
brought about towards the end of 1235. This peace 
seemed to promise a period of general tranquillity for the 
Mark. The conditions laid down at Paquara were now 
carried out. The marriage between the rival families of 
Romano and Este seemed to put an end to their hostility; 
Treviso and Padua were reconciled, and Ezzelino became 
a burgher of the latter city. The fortunes of the House 
of Romano were once again at a low ebb, and Ezzelino 
saw himself forced once more to swear to the League. 

The Veronese, however, would not abandon the 
Emperor. The Count's party were soon expelled again. 
Evidently the mass of the people detested them, and were 
ready to side with the Montecchi and the Four-and- 
Twenty against them. The exiles, however, were soon 
restored ; and seeing that they could not bring the city 
over to the League nor maintain themselves long against 
their enemies, they began to plot to seize it by force, and 
to expel their opponents. 

The Marquis of Este, who had been elected Podesta 
of Vicenza for a second year, had quarrelled again with 
Alberic's supporters, and had banished the chief of them. 
He had now become an ardent supporter of the League, 
so much so that we soon find him denouncing the penalty 
of death on any one who should so much as mention the 
name of the Emperor. He joined in the plot organised 
in Verona, and assembled a force near the castle of 
Montebello, in order to come to the help of the Count as 
soon as a tumult should break out in the city. Ezzelino 
was absent in the territory of Treviso, cut off from his 
friends by Vicenza and the lands of the Count. 

But the conspiracy was discovered. When the Count's 
party rose their opponents were prepared. Instead of 
driving out the Montecchi they were beaten in the street 
fighting and themselves expelled. Ezzelino hastened 
from Treviso, over the snowy mountain paths. A road 
had to be cut by him in places through the piled-up 
drifts. He found Verona already in the hands of his 



262 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

partisans. The towers and houses of eleven families, 
supporters of the Count, were destroyed, and the Perugian 
Podesta was expelled on the charge of having aided the 
conspiracy. This latter action drew down on Ezzelino 
the Papal excommunication, of which he took no heed. 
He had at last reached the goal for which he had so long 
striven. Three times already had he seized on Verona, 
and each time he had been forced to relinquish his prey. 
Now for the fourth and last time he was master of the 
city ; and this time he was to rule it until his death. 



CHAPTER X 

FREDERICK'S WAR WITH THE LOMBARDS AND WITH 
THE CHURCH 

The first result of Ezzelino's rule in Verona was that 
that city was at once attacked by Vicenza and Padua, 
while the Count of San Bonifazio and his party carried 
on the war from their castles. Treviso, too, now 
definitely broke with Ezzelino, and falling on his lands 
in her territory inflicted on them enormous damages, 
which Ezzelino, later on, assessed at sixty thousand 
pounds. He appealed urgently to Frederick for help, 
and in May the advance guard of the Imperial forces, 
numbering five hundred mounted men and one hundred 
Saracen bowmen, entered Verona. 

Frederick, in the meantime, was assembling his army, 
and in August arrived at Trent, where he was welcomed 
by the brothers Ezzelino and Alberic. Times had 
changed since Barbarossa had been able to gather all 
the princes of Germany under his standard for an 
invasion of Lombardy. The Germans had now no 
liking for campaigns south of the Alps. They were of 
opinion that Italy should be conquered by the forces 
of the loyal cities and of Frederick's hereditary 
possessions, Sicily and Apulia. Only three thousand 
mounted men followed the Emperor when, in August, 
1236, he made his triumphal entry into Verona, from 
which city he hoped to proceed to the complete 
subjugation of Lombardy. 

The territory of Verona, stretching from the Alps to 
the Po, cut off the cities of the Mark from the rest 
of the confederates. The lands of Brescia and the 

263 



264 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

long, narrow district of Mantua isolated it in turn 
from the group of Communes — Parma, Reggio, Modena, 
and Cremona — which formed the main strength of the 
Imperial party. Isolated again from these by Piacenza 
and Lodi were Asti and Pavia. These cities favoured 
Frederick's cause ; but they were surrounded by 
enemies and, for the moment, were compelled to in- 
action, especially since the Marquis of Montferrat had 
broken with Pavia and had adhered to the League. 

On the side of Milan were ranged Alessandria, 
Vercelli, Novara, Brescia, Como, Lodi, and Crema. 
The smaller communities of Piedmont were neutral or 
favoured the League. Piacenza had been fluctuating, 
according as the people or the nobles had gained the 
upper hand. In June of this year, however, a Papal 
legate, the Cardinal of Praeneste, had brought about a 
reconciliation by which the nobles were restored to the 
city. But they began almost at once to plot against 
their adversaries, and were favoured by the Cardinal, 
who, either secretly inclined to the League or deceived 
by the nobles, allowed them to take such measures 
that the heads of the popular party left the city. 
Sentence of banishment was at once pronounced 
against them ; and Piacenza, now entirely in the 
hands of the nobles, entered the League. The 
attitude of Bergamo was doubtful, but, as events 
soon showed, its sympathies were with the Emperor. 

Mantua formed a connecting link between these 
cities and the eastern members of the League. Its 
district touched that of Ferrara, which in turn 
bordered on the lands of the Marquis of Este on 
one side, and on those of Bologna on the other. 
Faenza, also a member of the League, was closely 
allied with Bologna, and was at^ this time engaged in 
a war which for the moment had made it the pre- 
dominant city in Romagna. With Faenza were allied 
Imola and Cesena, while the Imperial Vicar in the 
province was supported by Ravenna, Rimini, Forli, 
Forlimpopoli, Bertinoro, and many feudal lords. 
Thus this region was divided between partisans of the 



WAR WITH THE LOMBARDS 265 

Emperor and of the League. Already before Frederick's 
arrival in Italy Faenza had gained the upper hand, 
and had forced Forli, Forlimpopoli, and Bertinoro 
to submission. 

From Verona Frederick could either attack the other 
cities of the Mark, which could not easily receive help 
from the rest of the confederates, or he could force his 
way through to Cremona, and with that city as a base 
strike at Milan, the heart of the opposition to him. He 
chose the latter alternative. Passing into the southern 
territories of Brescia, he captured several castles which 
commanded the passage of the Oglio. The confederate 
army, estimated at fifty thousand men, contented them- 
selves with observing his movements, without hindering 
his junction with the army which Cremona, Parma, 
Reggio, and Modena had sent to meet him. Then, 
fixing his headquarters at Cremona, he attacked the 
lands of Mantua, so as to keep open his communications 
with Verona. 

As soon as the Emperor had crossed the Mincio, the 
Paduans, Trevisans, and Vicentines, with the lords of 
Camino and Este, assembled all their forces to crush 
Verona, the greater part of whose mounted forces had 
accompanied Frederick. The united armies laid siege 
to the important castle of Rivalta, near the Adige. 
Ezzelino had remained behind to protect Verona, and 
sent urgent messages to the Emperor for help. Leaving 
Cremona in the evening at the head of his cavalry, 
Frederick, after a ride of unexampled length, reached 
San Bonifazio in twenty-four hours. The news of his 
arrival caused a panic in the confederate camp. They 
broke up in confusion, and each contingent hastened 
with a]l possible speed back to its own city. 

On Ezzelino's advice Frederick pushed forward 
against Vicenza. He reached the city before the 
burgher infantry. The remaining townsmen and the 
horse under the Marquis of Este rejected the summons 
to surrender. The Germans and the Veronese at once 
attacked the city ; some of the former scaled the walls, 
and threw open a gate for their comrades. The Marquis 



266 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

fled, and the whole army poured into the city, which 
was given over to all the horrors of fire and sword. The 
Germans made no distinction between friend and foe. 
Even the historian Maurisio, eager partisan of the 
Emperor as he was, was stripped of all his belongings, 
including his dearly loved books, and dragged about in 
chains, until after a few days an Imperial proclamation 
ordered the release of the prisoners. 

After this exemplary punishment, Frederick showed 
himself inclined to mildness. The constitution of the 
city was, outwardly at least, recognised, but the choice 
of the Podesta and the practical direction of the 
government was left to Ezzelino. The latter was now 
master of Verona and Vicenza, and later tradition 
revives an old legend in order to show how Frederick 
expected him to maintain his power. Walking one day 
with him in the Bishop's garden, Frederick, while 
discoursing with him on the means for preserving his 
hold on Vicenza, began to strike off with his knife the 
heads of the tallest flowers. " I shall not forget this 
lesson," was the remark of Ezzelino. 

Another anecdote illustrates the mixture of scepticism 
and belief as regards many of the prevailing opinions of 
the time which is such a feature in Frederick's character. 
He asked his astrologer to foretell by which gate he would 
leave Vicenza. The astrologer gave him a sealed paper, 
to be opened after he had quitted the city. Hoping to 
put him to confusion, the Emperor caused a breach 
to be made in the wall, and passed out through it with 
his army. The paper was opened, and on it was written, 
" Per portam novam exibit rex " ! i 

His sudden and striking success at Vicenza altered 
Frederick's plans. He determined to complete the 
conquest of the Mark. The season was too advanced 
for siege operations, but Frederick carried fire and 
sword into the lands of Padua and Treviso, hoping to 
terrify these cities into a surrender. Salinguerra now 
listened to the counsels of his old ally, and brought 

' It appears from Maurisio that there was a gate in Vicenza called 
Porta Nova. 




MONSELICE. 



To face page 267, 



WAR WITH THE LOMBARDS 267 

Ferrara over to the Imperial party ; and the lords of 
Camino, more hostile to Treviso than to their rivals 
of Romano, joined the same party. Though thus cut 
off from all outside help, the tvi^o cities showed no 
signs of yielding. A revolt of the Duke of Austria 
recalled Frederick to Germany, and, leaving Ezzelino 
as his representative in the Mark, he passed over the 
Piave against the German rebels. 

In February, 1237, Ezzelino and the Imperial general, 
Gebhard von Arnstein, left their winter quarters of 
Vicenza to attack Padua. To protect themselves in 
this peril, the Paduans had entrusted the government 
of the Commune to sixteen of the leading nobles, and 
in a general assembly had appointed Azzo of Este 
general, solemnly handing over to him the banner of 
the Commune, and hailing him as the shield and 
guardian of the Mark. 

Soon, however, it was discovered that some of the 
sixteen were in secret communication with Ezzelino. 
All fell at once under suspicion, and the Podesta 
ordered them to retire to Venice. Instead of obeying, 
all but two fled to their castles, and soon declared 
openly for the Emperor. Then, by a bold march 
along the skirts of the Euganean hills, the Imperial 
forces fell on the castle of Cartura, where the Paduans 
had placed two hundred chosen knights, in order to 
keep open their communications with Este. The 
surprise was complete, and the whole force was 
captured. Next Ezzelino advanced on the strong 
fortress of Monselice. This was an Imperial castle, 
but the castellans had been forced to acknowledge 
the supremacy of Padua. This they were now glad 
to shake off, and Monselice surrendered without 
a blow. 

The Marquis of Este saw his own territories now 
cut off from Padua. Ezzelino sent to him ordering 
him to decide whether he would be for or against 
the Emperor, and the Marquis, abandoning his trust, 
at once submitted. 

Confusion now reigned in Padua. The Podesta fled, 



268 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

and the city, left without a leader, was torn by con- 
flicting counsels. However, the patriotic party had still 
sufficient courage left to repel a first assault with con- 
siderable loss to the assailants. But the friends of the 
captured knights were above all anxious for their 
security ; and their influence was such that, not twenty- 
four hours after this success, they had carried a motion, 
proposed by Ezzelino's secret partisans, to surrender the 
city in exchange for the captives. 

The treaty was soon made ; the constitution and the 
rights of the Commune were to remain untouched, and 
Ezzelino even promised to use his utmost endeavours to 
secure the welfare of the city. The Imperial army was 
met outside the gates by the whole population, and 
greeted with all outward demonstrations of joy. When 
Ezzelino came to the Porta Torrisella, he removed his 
helmet and, leaning from his horse, kissed the gatepost. 
To the more hopeful among the burghers it seemed a 
symbol of goodwill and future protection ; to Ezzelino 
it meant that the day of vengeance had dawned for that 
people who, as the chronicler puts it, " were wont to 
hate and persecute him as if he were a wolf." 

Padua had surrendered in the end of February, and 
but a few weeks later Treviso, left helpless, submitted to 
the Empire, or rather to the lordship of Ezzelino. The 
words of his father when, ten years before, he had 
counselled him to submit for the moment to Padua, but 
to bide his time in the hope of one day seeing not Padua 
alone, but all the Mark at his feet, had come true. The 
old man had carefully treasured in his memory a saying 
of his wife, the Tuscan Adelaide of Mangona, who was 
believed to be gifted with supernatural powers. The 
first half of the prophecy seemed now to have been ful- 
filled. The double meaning that lurked in the obscure 
Latin lines had escaped the notice of Ezzelino the Monk 
and his sons. 

Thus when Frederick returned to Italy in September, 
1237, he found one considerable province already lost to 
the League. In the interval Ezzelino had laid siege to 
the castle of San Bonifazio ; and though its great 



WAR WITH THE LOMBARDS 269 

strength and the valour of its defender, the youthful 
son of the Count and of Ezzelino's sister, the celebrated 
Cunizza, had so far foiled his efforts, its reduction by 
hunger was only a question of time. It was all important 
to the Count to prevent this fortress falling into the 
hands of the Veronese ; so on condition that the siege 
should be raised and his possessions secured to him he 
submitted to Frederick. More important still, he brought 
over to the Imperial side Mantua, a city which was 
altogether guided by him. Frederick received the sub- 
mission of this Commune in October, on guaranteeing 
to it all its liberties. 

This was the weak point in Frederick's position. He 
relied on Italian aid to subdue the League, and was not 
strong enough to hold down by main force the cities 
which had come over to him. He was therefore forced 
to recognise the existing constitutions, placing the 
government in the hands of those among the burghers 
who for one reason or other supported him. Still less 
could he interfere with those Communes which had 
always been on his side. Cremona and Parma were 
just as jealous of their liberties as was Milan ; it was 
hatred of that city, far more than devotion to the Empire, 
which had ranged them under Frederick's banner. No 
doubt Frederick hoped later on to establish his direct 
authority in the cities, and to be as much master of 
them as any other king was of his dominions. For the 
moment, however, he was forced to respect the autonomy 
of all — an autonomy, we must admit, which was but the 
merest shadow in the cases of Vicenza and Padua. 

At the opening of his second campaign Frederick 
might well congratulate himself on his previous 
successes. Only Bologna and Faenza, of the eastern 
cities, still remained to the League. The western 
cities, however, grouped round Milan, were still bent 
on resistance ; and against them Frederick directed his 
forces. 

With the contingents of all the Italian Communes of 
his party, amongst whom were many burghers of Trent, 
a city which does not often come into our story, two 



270 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

thousand German cavalry and a force of Saracen bow- 
men, variously estimated as seven or ten thousand strong, 
the Emperor set out from Goito, in the district of Mantua, 
and entered the lands of the Brescians. With him were 
Ezzelino, the Marquis of Este, and the Count of San 
Bonifazio. The Emperor had with him an elephant, 
which excited the wonder of the Italians. "And on 
this beast of an elephant," so the chronicler of Mantua 
quaintly puts it," was a Carroccio, and over the Carroccio 
floated the standard of the Empire, and armed Chris- 
tians and Saracens were in the Carroccio." The castles 
in the southern territory of Brescia soon fell into his 
hands. 

The confederate Lombards had assembled a consider- 
able army to check his advance towards Milan. We are 
told that a few years before the Milanese had raised a 
force of seven thousand cavalry, under seven captains, 
and that they could put fifty thousand infantry under 
arms. It was thus easy for the League to equip a 
considerable field army, while leaving the cities amply 
garrisoned. 

The army of the League advanced across the narrow 
portion of the district of Bergamo which separated the 
Contado of Milan from that of Brescia. They crossed 
the Oglio, and posted themselves at Manerbio, halfway 
on the direct route from Cremona to Brescia. The 
swampy nature of the ground effectually protected their 
position from attack. From this spot they were able to 
cover Brescia, and to keep a watch on Bergamo, which 
had lately shown leanings towards the Imperial party. 
The Emperor took up his quarters at Ponte Vico, where 
the modern railway from Cremona to Brescia crosses the 
Oglio. The outpost of the two armies were in touch 
with one another. 

The position taken up by the confederates had one 
serious disadvantage. If Frederick were to cross the 
Oglio, and advance through the northern part of the 
friendly territory of Cremona, he could easily place him- 
self between their army and Milan, while he himself 
would have a secure line of communication with Cre- 



WAR WITH THE LOMBARDS 271 

mona. He might even make a dash on Crema, or Milan 
itself, before the army of the League could come to the 
rescue. We must suppose, however, that the con- 
federates had seen this latter danger and provided against 
it by leaving strong garrisons in Lodi and Crema, as well 
as in the castles between the latter city and their quarters 
at Manerbio. 

Frederick was above all things anxious to draw his 
opponents to a pitched battle in the open. They were 
fully alive to the danger to them of this, and remained 
in their position, which Frederick did not venture to 
attack. The armies faced one another for a fortnight, 
during which time Papal envoys attempted to renew the 
negotiations for peace which they had been carrying on 
during the summer, and which the obstinacy of the 
nobles of Piacenza had brought to nothing. The 
Emperor would not listen to them. The time for 
negotiations was passed ; the Lombards must submit 
or let the sword decide. 

The confederates trusted that the lateness of the season 
would of itself cause the break up of Frederick's army. 
The contingents from the Italian cities would not remain 
long in the field ; the Germans and Saracens would 
suffer from the swampy soil and the November rains. 
The Emperor was quite aware of their hopes, and knew 
that it would be difficult for them too to keep their 
forces under arms. He laid his plans accordingly. He 
gave out that he intended to retire to Cremona for the 
winter, and sent on some of his troops to the city. Then 
he broke up his camp, and, abandoning the Brescian 
territory, crossed the Oglio with his whole army. 

The Lombards believed that Frederick's army was 
disbanded, and that he had withdrawn to Cremona. 
Leaving Manerbio they gladly began their homeward 
march. They crossed the Oglio, and on the 27th of 
November, four days after Frederick had left his camp, 
they had reached Cortenuova in the district of Bergamo, 
marching carelessly and singing as they went, when they 
were suddenly assailed by the Saracens of the Imperial 
vanguard. The Emperor, in fact, instead of retiring 



272 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

south to Cremona, had advanced northwards along the 
right bank of the Oglio, and had posted his whole army 
on the flank of the retiring Lombards. 

Taken completely by surprise, and attacked with vigour 
by the enemy, who fell on them with shouts of " Miles, 
Roma ! Miles, Imperator ! " the confederates, consist- 
ing of the flower of the cavalry and infantry of Milan, 
with contingents from Alessandria, Como, Crema, Vercelli, 
Novara, and Piacenza, hastily got their ranks into some 
sort of order, and repelled the first charge of the Saracens. 
They even held their ground against the charges of the 
flower of the German and Italian knights headed by the 
Emperor, his son Enzio and Ezzelino, until, finding their 
flank menaced by a force from Bergamo, they were forced 
to give ground. But a picked body of the chosen youth 
of Milan, the Company of the Forti, who had bound 
themselves by oath to die rather than yield, maintained 
their ranks unbroken around the Carroccio of their city, 
until night put an end to the combat. 

Frederick ordered his troops to sleep in their armour, 
so as to be ready to renew the battle at the first light of 
morning. The Podesta of Milan, finding his army too 
shaken to renew the combat, ordered a retreat in the 
night, hoping thus to save the Carroccio and the bulk of 
his army. The heavy rains had made the roads im- 
passable, and the ponderous wagon stuck fast in the 
mud. It was found at daybreak by the Imperial cavalry, 
lying overturned in the midst of the abandoned baggage 
train of the confederates, stripped of its ornaments, with 
the exception of the golden crosSj which its guards had 
not been able to detach from the top of the mast. The 
cavalry soon overtook the fugitives and scattered them in 
hopeless rout. " Then the renowned knighthood of 
Pavia avenged itself on the knights of Milan, and faithful 
Cremona with its allies dyed its axes in blood, and the 
Saracens emptied their quivers," cries exultantly Pietro 
delle Vigne, Frederick's chancellor. Milan, alone, is said 
to have lost eight hundred knights and three thousand 
foot-soldiers. The Imperialists declared that ten thousand 
men, probably half the hostile army, had perished or had 



WAR WITH THE LOMBARDS 273 

been captured. Among the captives was the Milanese 
Podesta, Tiepolo, son of the Doge of Venice, and more 
than three hundred nobles of Milan, Alessandria, Novara, 
and VercelH. The Archbishop of Milan, who had ac- 
companied his flock to battle, could not be found. To 
complete the disaster, the men of Bergamo fell on the 
fugitives scattered throughout their territory and captured 
them in numbers.^ Scarcely any would have reached 
Milan had not Pagano della Torre, lord of the Valsas- 
sma, between the district of Bergamo and the Lake of 
Como, guided them across the mountains into his lands, 
thrown open his castles to them, provided them with 
food and clothing, and escorted them to Milan.^ This 
act of kindness sank deep into the hearts of the populace, 
and in later days opened to the Delia Torre the way to 
the lordship over the city. 

After this great victory Frederick made a triumphal 
entry mto Cremona, wearing his crown and preceded by 
the long train of captives. The Milanese Carroccio was 
dragged along by the elephant, and the captive Podesta 
was lashed to the standard pole. Tiepolo and many of 
the chief captives were then sent to Apulian dungeons ; 
the Carroccio was sent, with a pompous letter describ- 
mg the victory, as a present to the Roman people, and 
placed on the Capitol. 

In Milan the news of the disaster was followed by an 
outburst of despair, which, as is often the case in Italy, 
found expression in wild blasphemy. If we can believe 
Matthew Paris, the mob broke into the churches, hung 
the crucifixes upside down, defiled the very altars, and 
laid violent hands on the clergy. The League seemed 
shattered. Lodi submitted almost at once, and thus the 
road to Pavia was opened. Frederick spent the early 

According to many writers, it was only after the battle that 
Bergamo declared for the Emperor, hence the fugitives expected no 
attack in their territory. 

= It seems up to this to have escaped notice that the city of 
Bergamo lies between Cortenuova and the Valsassina, and that 
the latter hes completely aside from the route from Cortenuova to 
Milan. The confederate army must, therefore, have been driven 
northward towards the mountains. 

18 



274 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

days of January in that city ; and we can imagine with 
what ecstasies of delight the inhabitants once more saw 
an Emperor within their walls. They had of late years 
been forced more and more to yield to the power of 
Milan ; now at last they might look for the destruction 
of their rival. 

By March, Novara and Vercelli, the Marquis of 
Montferrat, all the cities of Piedmont as far as Susa, 
with the single exception of Alessandria, had sent in 
their submission to the Emperor. Como came over to 
his side soon after, and thus Milan was left isolated 
from all her allies. 

The few remaining cities of the League sent to treat 
for peace. Accounts differ widely as to what concessions 
they were prepared to make ; but it is certain that they 
fell short of the Emperor's demands. He wished to have 
the same authority over the Communes as every other 
king had in his dominions ; and to this the Lombards 
would not consent. The Milanese, voicing the deter- 
mination of the rest of the confederates, declared that 
they would rather perish sword in hand beneath the 
ruins of the city than submit and die more slowly by 
hunger and oppression. As a matter of fact their 
position was by no means so desperate as appears at 
first sight. They knew that Pope and Emperor were 
once more drifting towards an open quarrel. The actual 
subjects in dispute were trivial ; but it was certain that 
a Pope with political views such as Gregory's must look 
with lively alarm on the complete destruction of Lombard 
freedom. Frederick would then be as much master of 
Northern Italy as he already was of the south, and would 
have the Papacy completely at his mercy. He had 
already given ample grounds for the suspicion that he 
would strive to reduce the Popedom to a complete sub- 
jection to the civil power. The Pope would be reduced 
to the level of the Patriarch of Constantinople. Even if 
we reject the rumours that Gregory sent secret en- 
couragement to the Milanese, it must have been perfectly 
evident to them that a rupture between the Papacy and 
the Empire was only a matter of time. The question 



WAR WITH THE LOMBARDS 275 

was Could they hold out until an actual breach took 
place ? 

In the then state of military science a walled city, 
if properly provisioned and free from traitors within 
the walls, could resist almost indefinitely a besieging 
army however strong. A common danger had united 
the Milanese. They strengthened their walls and laid 
in ample stores of food. The constitution of Frederick's 
army gave them time for this. The Imperial authority 
had been greatly weakened in Germany since the days 
of Barbarossa, largely owing to concessions forced from 
his grandson when contending against Otho of Bruns- 
wick, or preparing for the Crusade. He could not force 
the Germans to take the field in sufficient numbers, nor 
did his finances enable him to raise a mercenary force, 
or, if raised, to hold it long together. The Italian con- 
tingents could hardly remain away from home for any 
considerable period. In fact, after Cortenuova Frederick's 
army had broken up, and months must elapse before 
a new one could be assembled. All these considera- 
tions emboldened the cities, Milan, Alessandria, Brescia, 
Piacenza, Bologna, and Faenza, which still held out. 

Not till the August after Cortenuova was Frederick 
again ready to assume the offensive. The Marquis 
Lancia, at the head of a force supplied by Pavia, Asti, 
and the other cities west of the Ticino, prepared to 
reduce Alessandria, while Frederick with the main army 
attacked Brescia. A powerful army had at last come 
from Germany. No less than eight prelates and many 
lay princes appeared in person at the head of their 
vassals. A large force of Apulians and Saracens was 
furnished by Frederick's hereditary dominions. A 
choice body of cavalry came from the Rhone Valley, 
and the Lombards of the Imperial party sent their 
contingents.! Even foreign countries sent men to 
swell the host. Henry III. of England, Frederick's 
father-in-law, supplied one hundred knights and a great 
sum of money. The Count of Toulouse, the King of 

' Some of the Brescian nobles, hostile to the popular party, 
served under Frederick's banner. 



276 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

Castile, the Emperor Vataces, even, it is said, the Soldan 
of Egypt sent chosen warriors to display their valour 
under the Imperial eagle, as if to some great tourna- 
ment. 

The great host assembled at Goito, a castle in the 
Mantuan territory, of which the name, but not the 
physical features, figure in Browning's " Sordello," and 
advanced on Brescia, the conquest of which seemed 
easier than that of Milan, and would probably terrify 
the other confederates into submission. But the men 
of Brescia — 



" Brescia the armed, Brescia the strong, 
In valour clothed more stubborn than her steel- 



have always been famed for courage above the common 
order. They prepared, with greater resources, to emulate 
the resistance offered by Crema two generations before 
in a similar crisis. For more than two months they 
defied all attacks, and even made numerous successful 
sorties. In the Emperor's camp was a famous Spanish 
engineer, Calamandrino by name, who directed the siege 
operations. He was captured in one of the sorties, and 
forced by threats of death to give his services to the 
besieged. All the engines known to the military science 
of the time, mangonels, catapults, great movable towers, 
were employed against the defences ; but the courage 
and skill of the Brescians beat off all attacks. Exasperated 
by the long resistance, the Emperor caused the captives 
taken in the preceding year in the Brescian castles to 
be bound to the front of the towers, which were moved 
up against the walls. This cruel action proved as useless 
now as formerly before Crema ; the burghers did not 
slacken in their resistance, encouraged by the exhorta- 
tions of the prisoners, who preferred death to the ruin 
of their country. In revenge the German captives were 
hung by the arms over the most vulnerable points of 
the fortifications. 

The siege lasted into October, and the Imperial army 
made no progress. The autumn rains began to sow 






WAR WITH THE LOMBARDS 277 

disease in their camp, and in a last great sortie the 
Brescians inflicted heavy loss on the assailants, and 
almost penetrated to the Emperor's tent. Next day 
Frederick abandoned the siege,i burned his machines, 
and concluding a truce with Brescia, withdrew to 
Cremona, where his army disbanded. 

The siege of Brescia is the turning-point in Frederick's 
struggle with the Lombards. His failure encouraged his 
adversaries beyond measure. All his efforts had been foiled 
by one city, and the remaining confederates had not 
only been left unmolested, but had been able to take the 
offensive. Bologna had ravaged the Modenese, Milan 
the lands of Pavia and Bergamo, Piacenza those of Cre- 
mona. The Cremonese, helped by some of Frederick's 
troops, had indeed given their adversaries a great over- 
throw, taking a thousand prisoners ; but as a set-off to 
this Alessandria had successfully resisted all attacks. 

Even in the Mark Frederick's authority, or rather that 
of Ezzelino who ruled it in Frederick's name, had not 
been undisturbed. The former ruling class in the Com- 
munes was impatient of Ezzelino's authority, which was 
daily taking away all but the shadow of communal liberty. 
The Count's party were hostile to him in Verona ; in 
Vicenza the nobles, laying aside all their private quarrels, 
united against him, and withdrew to their castles. In 
Padua, where both nobles and middle classes were his 
enemies, a widespread conspiracy was formed to give 
the city into the hands of the Marquis of Este, and its 
success would have meant, beyond all doubt, the loss of 
that city to the Imperial cause. 

The Marquis appeared, in the July previous to the 
siege of Brescia, before the Porta Torrisella, and at 
the same moment his supporters inside the walls rose. 
Ezzelino, after the first surprise, called his German 
troops to arms ; he was just in time to prevent the 
conspirators from opening the gate, and the majority 
of them fled from the city. He himself, with a small 
body of cavalry, sallied out by another gate, and, 
skirting the walls, fell unexpectedly on his enemies, 
' October 9, 1238. 



278 - THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

who were drawn up in the Prato della Valle. They fled 
before the unexpected onslaught, and only the fleetness 
of his horse saved the Marquis from captivity. Ezzelino 
at once attacked the Marquis's lands. Este was captured 
after a short siege ; but Montagnana defied all his efforts. 
Ezzelino was forced to retreat, and soon afterwards the 
Marquis recovered Este. Ezzelino found his position so 
unsafe that he wrote urgent letters asking the Emperor 
for help. 

Early in 1239 the Emperor visited the Mark, where he 
was received with all outward signs of loyalty. He pro- 
fessed to look on the warfare between Ezzelino and the 
Marquis as a mere private quarrel, and invited the latter to 
his court, where he sought to reconcile the two adversaries. 
Ezzelino pretended to obey, but his spies kept a careful 
account of all the Paduans who visited the Marquis. 
They were marked down as victims for the future 
vengeance of Ezzelino. 

Frederick made a considerable stay in Padua, elabora- 
ting a series of enactments which would establish his 
authority on a firm basis in those parts of Lombardy 
under his control. At the same time he gave expression 
to his love of splendour by the magnificent festivities 
with which he sought to dazzle the people ; and the 
Paduans, following their pleasure-loving nature, vied 
with him and his courtiers in pomp of dress and 
splendid entertainments. 

An interruption came when news was brought that on 
Palm Sunday, while Frederick was presiding with Im- 
perial pomp over the annual festivities in the Prato della 
Valle, the Pope had solemnly pronounced sentence of 
excommunication against him in Rome. 

The open breach between Pope and Emperor had 
come at last. Perhaps the chief among the many causes 
of his action put forward by the Pope was Frederick's 
proceedings in relation to Sardinia. The Popes had 
long claimed to be suzerains of this island, and several 
of the great Pisan families, who had divided the island 
amongst themselves after the expulsion of the Moors, had 
acknowledged the claim. But, just before the end of the 



WAR WITH THE LOMBARDS 279 

siege of Brescia, the Emperor had brought about the 
marriage of his son Enzio with the heiress of a large part 
of the island, and had allowed him to take the title of 
King of Sardinia. The Pope looked on this as an in- 
fringement of the rights of the Church; Frederick, how- 
ever, declared that Sardinia lawfully belonged to the 
Empire, and refused satisfaction. The Pope began now 
openly to take part with the Lombards. A Papal legate 
appeared in Milan, and Frederick was required to submit 
his quarrel with the League to Papal arbitration. 

Prudence should have counselled the Emperor to 
refrain from all provocation to the Pope until the 
Lombards had been conquered. His honour was, 
however, touched by the Papal demands ; and the result 
of his former conflict with Gregory had led him into 
the fatal error of undervaluing the real strength of the 
Papacy. He therefore rejected Gregory's proposal, and 
gave no attention to his threats. 

In the meantime events had greatly strengthened the 
pontifif. He was sure of the support of Milan and her 
allies. The Venetians, too, irritated at Frederick's treat- 
ment of the son of their Doge, and hoping to make 
conquests on the coasts of Apulia, placed their resources 
at his disposal. A happy chance, too, threw Genoa on 
his side. 

The Genoese had so far held aloof from the war in 
Lombardy. Frederick sent envoys to win them over to 
his cause. As the city was torn by feuds between the 
nobles, and the towns on the western Riviera were in 
revolt, he hoped to establish his influence in the Com- 
mune. Before the arrival of his ambassadors peace had 
been restored within and without the walls ; and the 
envoys found the government hesitating as to their 
attitude. 

They determined to refer the matter to the general 
assembly of the burghers. The Podesta, a member of a 
great Milanese house, read out the Imperial rescript, in 
which Frederick demanded that the city should take " an 
oath of fealty and homage" to him. But by the alteration 
of a single letter he made it appear that the Emperor 



280 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

required an oath of " fealty and subjection." ^ The anger 
of the quick-tempered assembly took fire at this demand, 
which seemed to imply the surrender of their liberties. 
The envoys were dismissed, and Genoa put itself under 
the protection of the Church. 

The Pope could now rely on the help of the two great 
maritime Communes, and the Lombards had been 
strengthened by the acquisition of Ravenna, which had 
hitherto supported the Emperor. There was a faction in 
the city hostile to the ruling party, and these, headed by 
Paolo Traversari, head of a great noble family, seized the 
government early in 1239, and allied themselves with 
Faenza and Bologna. The excommunication of the 
Emperor was practically a declaration of war against 
him by the Pope. Once more a Pope and a Lombard 
League were arrayed against an Emperor of the House 
of Swabia. From this moment we may with certainty 
apply to the contending parties the names of Guelf 
and Ghibelline. 

Frederick affected to make light of the excommunica- 
tion. His chancellor, the celebrated Pietro delle Vigne, 
justified his conduct in a set oration before the assembled 
Paduans ; and to the document in which Gregory set 
forth the grounds of his action, he answered in letters to 
all Christian kings and prelates, to the great lords of 
Germany and France, and to the Roman people. 

He then prepared to leave the Mark. To secure his 
tranquillity he took hostages, amongst them the son of the 
Marquis of Este and his young wife, daughter of Alberic 
of Romano. Alberic's attitude had for some time been 
doubtful. Probably he was jealous of his brother's influ- 
ence with the Emperor. This treatment of his daughter 
now roused his anger. He entered into an alliance with 
his old enemies the Da Camino, and by a sudden attack 
on Treviso they made themselves masters of the city, 
expelling the Imperial garrison. Treviso at once 
placed herself under the protection of the Pope and 
the Venetians. 

' Instead of " juramentum fidelitatis et hominii," he read out 
"juramentum fidelitatis et dominii." 



WAR WITH THE LOMBARDS 281 

Frederick at once called out the whole force of Padua 
to recover the city. He soon saw that this would not be 
an easy task. The frontier town of Castelfranco defied 
him for several days, until an eclipse of the sun gave him 
a pretext for raising the siege. His presence seemed 
necessary in Central Lombardy, so, in order to secure 
the Paduans to his cause, he gave their Commune a 
grant of all the lands of Treviso as far as the River Sile, 
on which the city stands. The Paduan army was dis- 
banded, and the Emperor, accompanied by the Marquis 
and some Vicentine nobles, set out for Verona. On the 
way one of their friends, a confidant of the Emperor, is 
said, looking at them, to have drawn his hand significantly 
across his throat, indicating that their lives were in dan- 
ger. The road led near the castle of San Bonifazio ; and 
Este and his friends asked the Emperor's leave to visit 
the Count. Leave was granted, they went ; but the 
Emperor waited in vain for their return. Safe in the 
almost impregnable castle, they paid attention neither 
to Frederick's promises nor to his threats ; and a few 
days later the Marquis, the Count, and all their adherents 
were declared traitors. 

It would have been Frederick's most natural course to 
crush Treviso and Este before proceeding against the 
other hostile cities. But, whether it was that he thought 
that Ezzelino could put down the rebels, or that his allies 
elsewhere urgently demanded his presence, he left the 
Mark. His operations during the following months seem 
carried out without any fixed plan. In spite of the 
brilliant campaign culminating at Cortenuova, Frederick 
seems to have been wanting in the higher requisites of a 
general. Instead of consistently following out one great 
and well-devised plan, he is continually turning aside, 
guided by the impulse of the moment. 

So, first, with the levy of Modena and aid from other 
cities he attacked Bologna. From here he returned to 
Central Lombardy without having done more than take 
a few castles. News of discord between the nobles and 
the people in Milan and the revolt to his side of Lecco 
and other places on the Lake of Como determined this 



282 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

action. Aided above all by the Cremonese, he entered 
the Milanese territory and laid it waste. The indignant 
chronicler of Milan exclaims that more than twenty 
times had the Carroccio of Milan entered the lands of 
Cremona, and that now once, under the protection of the 
Emperor, did the Cremonese Carroccio venture into the 
district of Milan. 

Undeterred by Cortenuova, the Milanese put in the 
field a large army, in which even monks and priests 
were enrolled, under the leadership of the Pope's 
legate. By skilful use of the numerous waterways 
which intersect the Lombard plain, and by digging new 
canals, they protected their territories while avoiding the 
risks of a pitched battle. Although Frederick, besides 
his Saracens and the Italian levies, had now five 
thousand Germans in his army, he withdrew without 
having inflicted much damage. 

He now determined to leave the Lombards alone and 
to crush the Pope. He knew that the latter was trying 
to turn all Christendom against him, and was fomenting 
a revolt in Germany. Once before energetic action 
against the Papal territories had brought Gregory to 
consent to peace ; he hoped that similar action now 
would lead to like results. Besides, if he remained any 
longer in the north of Italy trouble was almost certain 
to arise in his southern possessions. Already Enzio had 
been sent to reduce the Mark of Ancona, now Frederick 
passed into Tuscany. 

There can be little doubt that Frederick's action was 
a mistake. The Pope's efforts in other parts of Europe 
met for the moment with but little success. To crush 
the Lombards was the most important matter for the 
Emperor, and the Pope might easily have been deprived 
of most of his dominions, even though Frederick himself 
had remained in Lombardy. 

The cities of the Papal states were as much inclined 
to resist the Pope's authority as those of Lombardy were 
adverse to that of the Emperor. Frederick found but 
little difficulty in overrunning most of Central Italy, and 
even Rome itself seemed incapable of resistance. But 



WAR WITH THE LOMBARDS 283 

Gregory was saved by his own indomitable courage. 
Putting aside all thoughts of submission, although he 
knew that the Emperor had won over a strong party 
in the city, he appealed to the religious feelings of the 
Romans. He quitted his palace surrounded by all the 
prelates then in the city and by the entire Roman clergy. 
Bearing aloft the most sacred relics, they passed in 
solemn procession to the sound of penitential psalms. 
Arrived at the Lateran the aged pontiff — he had nearly 
reached his hundredth year — took the crown from his 
head and placed it on the relics of the Apostles Peter and 
Paul, exclaiming, " Defend it, O Holy Ones ! Do you 
defend the city which the Romans leave to the mercy 
of the enemies of God ! " Then, with a voice broken 
by tears, he drew such a moving picture of the peril of 
the Church and of Frederick's crimes that the listening 
multitude was won over to his cause, the partisans of 
the Emperor fled, and the populace in a fury of enthu- 
siasm assumed the cross against the enemy of the 
Church. 

Frederick could effect nothing against this combina- 
tion of the citizens with the Pope, and giving up all idea 
of a siege retired to his Apulian kingdom. 

In the meantime the Lombards had not remained idle. 
The Marquis of Este had recovered most of his castles 
in the Euganean hills, and apparently about this time 
Mantua, following the example of the Count of San 
Bonifazio, had revolted from the Emperor. Urged by 
the Papal legate, a Diet of the League, assembled at 
Bologna towards the close of the year 1239, deter- 
mined on a more important enterprise — the reduction 
of Ferrara. 

This city had enjoyed unexampled prosperity during 
the fifteen years of Salinguerra's rule. The Po, which 
at that time flowed by the city, as well as various navig- 
able canals, afforded easy access to ships from the East 
and brought wealth to the inhabitants. Great fairs, held 
twice a year, attracted merchants even from France. 
The burghers, enjoying practical liberty under the wise 
guidance of Salinguerra, vied with one another in con- 



284 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

tributing to the needs of the State. It was considered a 
disgrace to be taxed at too small a sum ; the rich volun- 
tarily yielded more than the taxgatherers demanded ; 
their granaries, and above all those of Salinguerra, stood 
open to the poor in times of scarcity. So wealthy was 
the Commune that, after paying all expenses of adminis- 
tration, there remained a surplus, which was divided 
every month among the burghers. 

The war in Lombardy and Salinguerra's adherence 
to Frederick's side increased this prosperity. Ferrara 
became the natural port from which Frederick main- 
tained his communications with Apulia and Sicily. 
The soldiers and supplies brought by sea from these 
territories could be sent up the Po or the Mincio to 
Frederick's headquarters, and as the control of the 
greater part of the waterways of Lombardy was in 
Frederick's hand, the merchants of Ferrara had easy 
means of forwarding the goods which came to them 
from the East to the inland cities, and then to the 
countries beyond the Alps. 

Precisely such a traffic had made the wealth of the 
Venetians. It had been their constant aim to establish 
a monopoly of the trade between the East and the shores 
of the Adriatic. Hence we find them always ready to 
attack cities such as Ancona or Ravenna which ventured 
to compete with them. Their attitude towards the in- 
creasing trade of Ferrara was therefore one of uncon- 
cealed hostility. Already their fleet had blockaded the 
mouths of the Po in order to force all merchant ships 
to take their course to Venice ; but the Ferrarese had 
equipped a fleet in their turn, and had completely 
defeated the blockaders, carrying home in triumph 
several captured ships. 

The Venetians were eager for revenge, and entered 
warmly into the scheme for an attack on Ferrara. 
February, 1240, saw the city encircled by three armies. 
The Venetians supplied one, Bologna, Ravenna, and 
other Communes of Romagna another, the third was 
composed of the Mantuans under San Bonifazio, with 
whom were the Marquis of Este and Alberic of Romano 



WAR WITH THE LOMBARDS 285 

with a force from Treviso. Contingents from Milan, 
Brescia, and Piacenza swelled its numbers. 

Salinguerra, now almost eighty years of age, did not 
lose courage. The populace was devoted to him ; five 
hundred German cavalry had been sent to him by the 
Emperor. Reggio and Modena had sent a picked body 
of auxiliaries. To pay these he had a great treasure, 
four immense jars full of gold, as the chronicler relates.^ 

For four months the besieging armies held the city 
shut in. Repeated assaults failed, and even the siege 
machines from Venice had little effect on the fortifica- 
tions. Long prosperity had, however, sapped the con- 
stancy of the townsmen. The wealthy middle class could 
not bear to see their traffic cut off by the blockade and 
their fields laid waste by the enemy. The majority of 
the nobles had always been hostile to Salinguerra ; 
now they joined with the merchants in insisting on 
peace. Salinguerra had to yield, and terms of surrender 
were agreed upon. The city and its inhabitants were 
to be preserved from all plunder or injury ; Salinguerra 
was to go free to his house. The Leaguers entered the 
city early in June, and at once seized Salinguerra. In 
vain he invoked the treaty. His perfidious enemies 
declared that they had allowed him to return in safety 
to his house, and so had carried out the letter of their 
compact. The Marquis of Este was the only one who 
protested against this violation of the terms of surrender. 
Salinguerra was sent to Venice, where he spent the four 
remaining years of his life in an honourable captivity, 
and on his death was buried with due respect in the 
church of San Niccolo di Lido. 

The city was governed for two years by a Venetian 
Podesta, and then by Azzo of Este, backed up by his 
faction. We are told that so evil was the new rule that 
fifteen hundred persons — or families, according to some — 
left the city. Azzo's power was now established on the 
wreck of the opposite party. Thenceforward Ferrara 
ceased to exist as a free Commune. With Verona it 
gives us the earliest example of how the fury of party 

' Four dolia, according to the "Chronicon Parvum Ferrariense." 



286 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

strife within a Commune led to the voluntary surrender 
of freedom into the hands of a despot. 

The capture of Ferrara was a serious blow to the 
Imperial interests, and threatened Ezzelino's position 
in the Mark. As some compensation to the Ghibelline 
cause at the other extremity of Lombardy a faction 
favourable to Frederick, which had for some time 
existed in Alessandria, now got the upper hand and 
brought the city over to his side. 

It must excite surprise that no determined attempt to 
relieve Ferrara was made by the Communes allied with 
the Emperor. Attacks on Treviso and on the lands of 
Este did not draw off the besiegers. Ezzelino indeed 
captured Bassano, the chief seat of the power of the 
Romanos, which had fallen to Alberic at the division 
of the family property. But he seems to have acted at 
this juncture without any well-considered plan, and most 
of his energies were directed to suppressing the discon- 
tent which the severities of his rule had provoked in 
Vicenza, Verona, and Padua. Up to the period when 
he had established himself in the latter city his character 
compares favourably with that of the general run of his 
contemporaries. Now a strain of cruelty and suspicion 
showed itself ever more and distinctly, until these 
passions had obtained such a mastery over him that 
he developed into a tyrant such as Italy up to then 
had never seen. Executions by the sword or by fire 
followed close on one another. Cruelty provoked fresh 
discontent ; the suspicious tyrant found, or pretended 
to find, that plot followed on plot. A reign of terror 
began in Padua. The friends of the House of Este were 
marked down for destruction. Eighteen persons were 
hanged merely because they had been seen speaking to 
Jacopo da Carrara, who had revolted to the side of the 
Marquis. The sole survivor of the rival House of Cam- 
posampiero fled to Ferrara, his friends were imprisoned, 
and after some years left to die of starvation. The 
most influential citizens fled, their goods were seized, 
their houses and towered palaces destroyed. Writing 
three years after the fall of the tyrant, Rolandino says 



I 




Bassano. 
EzzELiNo's Castle. 



ige 286. 



WAR WITH THE LOMBARDS 287 

that one-half of the once flourishing city still lay in 
ruins. 

Against direct attacks of Este and of the Mantuans 
Ezzelino gained brilliant victories in the field ; he failed, 
however, entirely to overcome his enemies. Alberic and 
the Da Camino maintained their hold on Treviso ; the 
Marquis held his own in the Euganean hills ; the Count 
of San Bonifazio and the Vicentine nobles held out in 
the castles in the hill country between Vicenza and 
Verona. In the rest of Lombardy the two parties 
balanced one another ; the presence of Frederick was 
required to turn the scale in favour of his supporters. 

Accordingly the Emperor quitted his Apulian dominions, 
where he had successfully combated all attempts at revolt, 
and, two months after the fall of Ferrara, appeared in 
Romagna. Reinforced by contingents from nearly all 
Tuscany, and by the levies of most of the smaller 
Romagnol Communes, he advanced on Ravenna, which 
surrendered after a brief resistance. Then he turned on 
Faenza, the chief centre of opposition to him in this 
region. 

Faenza was at this time the foremost of the cities of 
Romagna. It was strongly fortified, and its thirty-six 
thousand inhabitants were united in their determination 
to resist, for they had shortly before expelled a Ghibelline 
faction which had come into existence owing to a private 
feud between two noble houses. 

As usual in the sieges of the period, a blockade had to 
be substituted for direct assaults. The winter was severe, 
but Frederick held his ground round the walls. A wooden 
city took the place of tents, and lines strengthened by 
forts cut off Faenza from all outside help. To pay 
his ti'oops the Emperor was forced to melt his plate and 
pledge his jewels. As this did not suffice, he stamped 
money of leather, which after his final victory was re- 
deemed in pieces of gold. The citizens began to suffer 
from hunger. They tried to send out of the walls the 
" useless mouths," but the Emperor refused to let them 
pass his lines. A part of the walls had fallen before the 
siege engines, and mines had been driven under them in 



288 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

other portions. An offer to surrender, if the burghers 
might leave the city and settle, abandoning all their 
goods, wherever the Emperor might direct, was rejected. 
Frederick demanded an unconditional submission. At 
length, after an eight months' siege, the burghers gave 
way, and issued from the walls, to face, as they believed, 
a certain death. But with wonderful generosity Frederick 
pardoned their obstinacy, as well as the shameful insults 
which they had, in the days of their prosperity, heaped 
not only on him, but on his mother. Their lives and 
property, even their constitution, were left to them on 
the sole condition that they should swear allegiance to 
him and renounce their alliance with the Lombards. 

Cesena submitted shortly afterwards, and so all 
Romagna was now obedient to the Emperor. A few 
days after the fall of Faenza news reached Frederick of 
another great success. The Pope had summoned a 
General Council to meet in Rome in the spring of 1241, 
in order to give judgement in the conflict between him 
and the Emperor. Frederick, having no confidence in 
the impartiality of such a tribunal, had done all in his 
power to prevent its assembling. Scarcely any of the 
German prelates obeyed the Papal summons, but from 
England and France a considerable number set out for 
Rome. Frederick refused to allow them to pass through 
the parts of Italy in his power, and his lieutenant, the 
Count of Savoy, guarded the Alpine passes leading from 
France into Italy. 

The Pope therefore turned for help to the Genoese, 
and this people undertook to fit out a fleet sufficient to 
carry the Bishops from Nice, where many of them had 
assembled, to the Roman coast. That Genoa should take 
part with the Pope was sufficient to make her rival Pisa 
embrace the cause of the Emperor. The Pisans in a 
short space of time equipped forty galleys, which were 
reinforced by twenty-seven Sicilian ships, and they sent 
an embassy to Genoa to give warning that they would 
oppose the voyage of the Genoese fleet. Their vessels 
held the sea between Pisa and Corsica. The Genoese 
fleet was inferior in numbers, but their admiral con- 



WAR WITH THE LOMBARDS 289 

sidered that honour required him to force a passage 
instead of seeking to avoid his enemies by the longer 
route round Corsica. The hostile squadrons met between 
the two islands of Giglio and Monte Cristo.^ The defeat 
of the Genoese was complete. Only five of their ships 
escaped ; three sank with all their crews ; the rest, twenty- 
two in number, fell into the hands of the Pisans. Two 
thousand Genoese perished ; four thousand were cap- 
tured, along with a hundred leading ecclesiastics. Two 
Cardinals, three Archbishops — amongst them the Arch- 
bishop of Milan — and the deputies of the Lombard cities, 
as well as numerous other prelates, were among the 
prisoners. It is said that they were first confined, bound 
with chains of silver, in the Baptistery of Pisa, then they 
were sent to dungeons in various parts of Apulia. 

To add to the favourable aspect of Frederick's affairs, 
dissensions had again broken out between nobles and 
people in Milan. The latter refused to take the field to 
repel an inroad of the Pavesans. Not until the nobles, 
who had attempted alone to drive back the enemy, had 
been overpowered by superior forces did patriotism pre- 
vail over party spirit. But nobles and people together 
were defeated with loss by the Pavesans a few days after 
the naval victory of the Pisans. 

Frederick was disposed to look on the triumph of his 
arms, and the destruction of the Pope's plan for a General 
Council, as evident signs that Heaven upheld his cause. 
The news of the Pisan success caused a sudden change 
in his plans. He had intended, and wisely, to secure his 
hold on Romagna by attempting the conquest of Bologna, 
after Milan the leading city of the League. Now he 
determined once more to defer the subjugation of Lom- 
bardy, and to finish once for all with Gregory, whose 
stubborn spirit, he hoped, had been conquered by the 
late blows to his cause. He marched on Rome. The 
neighbouring towns had submitted ; the Colonna had 
received him into their castles ; the powerful family of 

' This battle is often, but improperly, called the Battle of Meloria, 
from the shoal near Leghorn, where fifty years later the sea power 
of Pisa was finally destroyed by the Genoese. 

19 



290 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

the Frangipani had declared for him ; and Rome, cut off 
from all help, seemed a certain prey, when Gregory, 
worn out more by his forced sojourn in the city during 
the unhealthy season than by the weight of his years, 
sickened and died. 

His character is, perhaps, best displayed in an extract 
from a letter written a few weeks before his death. " Do 
not let yourselves be alarmed by the changeable appear- 
ance of the present time ; do not be terrified in adversity, 
do not be filled with pride in prosperity ; but trust in 
God, patiently enduring His trials. The bark of Peter is 
sometimes tossed here and there by contrary winds and 
driven towards the rocks, but soon it is seen again, con- 
trary to all expectations, issuing from the foaming waves 
and riding over the surface of a tranquil sea." 

True to his contention that he was at war, not with the 
Church, but with the Pope, Frederick retired from before 
Rome to allow undisturbed freedom of election to the 
Cardinals. Their choice fell on a Milanese, already 
advanced in years, who took the name of Celestine IV., 
but who died after less than three weeks' reign. The 
Romans, to hurry this election, had shut up the Cardinals 
in close confinement among the ruins on the Palatine 
hill ; now, to escape similar treatment, the Princes of 
the Church fled from the city, and nearly two years 
elapsed before they could unite in choosing a new 
Pontiff. 

Thus freed from Papal opposition, the Emperor might 
fairly look forward to a speedy triumph over the Lom- 
bards. Unfortunately at this moment Germany and all 
Christendom were threatened with destruction by an 
inroad of barbarians from Asia. The Mongol Tartars, 
obeying the orders of the successor of Genghis Khan, 
who ruled at Pekin, had poured like some devastating 
flood on the West. Russia, Poland, Hungary, and 
Bohemia had gone down before the torrent ; the 
German princes called urgently for help, and Frederick, 
believing that the affairs of Italy were now in a less 
critical position, sent four thousand cavalry and a strong 
body of infantry to the help of his subjects north of the 



WAR WITH THE LOMBARDS 291 

Alps. The walls of the German cities and the stout 
hearts of the defenders drove back the wild horsemen 
of the steppes, but in the meantime the chance of 
crushing the Lombards had been lost. 

Frederick did not feel himself strong enough, after the 
despatch of such a large force to the help of the Germans, 
to attempt operations on a large scale in Lombardy. An 
attack on Genoa, following up the defeat of that city on 
the sea, seemed to promise more success. Already, before 
the battle, Imperial commanders had invaded the terri- 
tories of the Commune. One body, led by Oberto 
Pelavicini, from Lombardy, had entered the eastern dis- 
tricts. Helped by the Malaspina and other nobles of the 
Lunigiana, and by contingents from Tuscany, he cap- 
tured several castles among the mountains and penetrated 
to the coast. On the other side a great force was 
assembled from Pavia, Tortona, Alessandria, Vercelli, 
Alba, and Acqui. The Marquis of Montferrat and the 
lesser feudal lords, who still kept their independence in 
the Ligurian mountains, the Marquises of Ceva, Carretto, 
and Bosco joined it. Savona, next to Genoa the largest 
town on the Ligurian coast, revolted from that city ; 
Albenga, Finale, and most of the western Riviera fol- 
lowed its example. Then came Frederick's fleet under 
a Genoese exile, Anselmo de' Mari, and attacked Noli, 
which still remained faithful to the republic. 

The Genoese did not lose courage amidst danger from 
so many sides. A letter to the Pope, written after the 
destruction of their fleet, runs in this strain : " Let your 
Holiness know that the citizens of Genoa consider as 
nothing the loss they have suffered in this battle ; but, 
abandoning all other business, they are working without 
ceasing to build and arm new vessels. Therefore we 
beg your Holiness, on our knees, in the name of the 
blood of that Jesus whom you represent on earth, not 
to attach too much importance to the misfortune which 
has just befallen us, and not to abandon the noble cause 
which you have determined up to now to defend." 

They devoted all their energies to fitting out a new fleet, 
and were soon able to put to sea in such superior 



292 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

numbers, that the Imperial admiral had to raise the 
siege of Noli. While the Genoese were engaged in 
repairing the fortifications there, Anselmo directed a 
daring stroke against Genoa itself. He boldly sailed 
into the harbour, and destroyed or plundered the 
defenceless merchant ships and quays. Then, as the 
Genoa hastened back to their city, he circled round 
their fleet, and established himself at Savona. Next 
spring eighty-three galleys issued from Genoa to drive 
the enemy from the Ligurian coast. They could accom- 
plish nothing against Anselmo's rapid movements. First, 
aided by a Pisan fleet, he attacked the eastern Riviera. 
When the Genoese approached he made again for 
Savona ; then, doubling on his pursuers, he once more 
threatened Genoa ; then he led on his opponents in 
a vain chase as far as the shores of Provence. 

From here he withdrew, by way of Corsica, to the 
Apulian coast. The Genoese hoped that the campaign 
was over for the year, when they heard that he had 
again reappeared at Savona. On land the Genoese had 
more success, for the rugged country put countless 
obstacles in the way of the invading armies. Early in 
1243 the dexterous use of Genoese gold detached the 
Marquises of Ceva, Carretto, and Montferrat from the 
Imperial cause ; and the latter promised to bar the 
road against any fresh invasion of Liguria on the west. 
Perhaps even a greater blow to Frederick was the 
defection of Novara and Vercelli, which once more 
re-entered the League. 

The war in Liguria was now centred round Savona, 
which was besieged for several months, and defended 
with great courage by the burghers. A relieving force 
from Pavia, Alessandria, and other Communes could not 
force its way through the mountains ; but the city held 
out against all assaults, until the approach of a great 
Pisan fleet numbering eighty galleys caused the besiegers 
to retreat. The Pisans sailed to Genoa, and shot arrows 
of silver as a mark of derision into the town. Joined with 
fifty-five Sicilian ships, they now held the mastery of 
the sea, and Savona and Albenga persisted in their 




The Keep. 

SOAVE. 



ce page 292. 



WAR WITH THE LOMBARDS 293 

revolt against Genoa during the rest of Frederick's 
reign. 

The war in Lombardy had degenerated into isolated 
raids of Cremona on Brescia and Piacenza, of Mantua 
against Verona, of Ezzelino against Treviso and Este. 
The natural result was widespread misery. " Lombardy," 
says Fra Salimbene, was reduced to such a solitude 
that neither cultivators of the fields nor travellers were 
to be found therein. Men could neither plough, nor 
sow, nor reap, nor gather in the vintage, nor dwell in 
the farms. However, near the cities men ploughed under 
a guard of soldiers. And this one had to do on account 
of the thieves and highwaymen who had multiplied 
beyond all measure. And they took people and led 
them away to prison until they redeemed themselves 
for money. And so, at that time, one man would meet 
another on the way as gladly as he would see the 
devil." 

It was probably due to mutual exhaustion that Pavia 
and Milan concluded a peace, or rather truce, in 1241 ; 
for we hear that the space between the two cities 
resembled more " the abode of wild beasts than a 
cultivated land." Frederick must have allowed the 
Pavesans thus to seek security on one frontier ; for 
we next hear of them as active in the attacks on Genoa. 
Como then took the place of Pavia as the chief opponent 
of Milan, and the region round the Lombard lakes 
became, in its turn, a scene of widespread desolation. 

Ezzelino, though unable to subdue Treviso, was 
steadily improving his position in the Mark. Montag- 
nana, a large town belonging to the Marquis of Este, 
fell into his hands, and the chief of the disaffected 
nobles of Vicenza made their peace with him. Far more 
important was the capture of the castle of San Bonifazio. 
Up till now it had defied all the attacks of the Veronese, 
to whose city it was a standing menace ; but the 
garrison, closely blockaded, and cut off from all 
communication with Mantua, was forced to capitulate 
in the autumn of 1243. The exultant people of Verona 
destroyed the hated stronghold so thoroughly that now 



294 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

no vestige of it remains. At the same time the severity 
of EzzeHno's rule kept increasing. The massive prisons 
which he built in Padua were filled with victims of his 
suspicions. Many of the leading citizens perished on 
the scaffold, or amidst tortures. Even in Verona, where 
the mass of the people had been won over to his rule 
by their admission to the public offices, he detected, 
or pretended to detect, conspiracies among the nobles. 
The suspected persons paid with their lives, and a fresh 
demolition took place of towers and palaces. 

It was not until June, 1243, that the Cardinals could 
agree as to the choice of a new Pope. Frederick had 
addressed letters to them, urging on the election, and 
couched in the most violent terms. Serpents, animals 
without a head, sons of Ephraim, sons of Belial, were 
some of his epithets. He followed up his words with 
a new advance to the walls of Rome, in the course of 
which his Saracen troops committed unheard-of cruelties 
at the capture of Albano. This brought the Cardinals 
to compliance with the wishes of the Christian world. 
They begged the Emperor to retire, promising a speedy 
election ; he consented, and their choice fell on the 
Genoese Sinibaldo dei Fieschi, who took the name of 
Innocent IV. 

The new Pope belonged to one of the most illustrious 
of the noble families of the Riviera who had been 
forced to become citizens of Genoa. The Fieschi, 
Counts of Lavagna, with three other noble houses, alone 
possessed the privilege of adorning their palaces with 
the alternate rows of black and white marble which, with 
this exception, could only be employed in the churches 
and public buildings. According to an English writer, 
he was one of those determined characters in which 
the Ligurian coast has always been so fertile ; men 
who proceed, in spite of all obstacles, towards the 
goal which they have set for themselves — men of the 
stamp of Garibaldi and Columbus. 

He was a personal friend of the Emperor, to whose 
party his family had hitherto inclined ; but Frederick 
knew too well his stern sense of duty to be blind to 



WAR WITH THE LOMBARDS 295 

the fact that personal friendship would not prevail with 
him over what he might conceive to be the interests 
of the Church. " I have lost a good friend," said 
Frederick on hearing of the election, "for no Pope 
can be a Ghibelline." ^ However, he affected to share 
in the general joy over the end of the long interregnum, 
ordered the Te Deum to be sung throughout the kingdom, 
and sent letters to Germany to announce the approaching 
reconciliation of Pope and Emperor. 

Negotiations for peace were begun at once. They 
broke down over the question of the Lombards. 
Frederick, ready enough to make concessions in other 
matters, refused to allow the pontiff to interfere between 
him and his rebellious subjects ; and Innocent, on his 
part, declared he would accept no peace with the 
Emperor in which the League was not included. 

The sudden revolt of Viterbo from the Imperial 
side increased the tension between the two parties. 
Frederick, seeing in the devotion of Viterbo a constant 
menace to Rome, had given the burghers many signal 
marks of favour, protected their markets, and built 
there a sumptuous palace, as if designing to make it 
the capital of Italy. The Governors sent there in his 
name had unfortunately excited discontent by oppressive 
conduct ; and a new Bishop hostile to the Emperor, 
taking advantage of this discontent, entered the city 
suddenly at the head of an armed force, won the 
townsmen over to his side, and besieged the German 
garrison in the castle. 

Innocent at once took the city under his protection, 
and the Romans sent help to the burghers, their former 
enemies. The Emperor hurried to the spot with an army, 
and another siege began, to be compared both for its 
obstinacy and its result with that of Brescia. Two furious 
assaults were repulsed, and the besieged, issuing from 
the walls by means of underground passages during 

' This sentence in its actual form is not likely to have been 
pronounced by the Emperor, for the word Ghibelline would not 
have been used by him to describe his party. The first part 
of the remark, however, is probably genuine. 



296 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

the second attack, set fire to the machines and drove 
Frederick's force back to their camp with heavy loss. The 
Emperor, shaken by this disaster, retired from the city. 

In spite of this, negotiations still went on ; and early 
in 1 244 the basis of a treaty was agreed on at Rome and 
sworn to by Frederick's plenipotentiaries. But new 
difficulties at once arose. The League was not mentioned 
in the treaty ; and the contracting parties would come to 
no agreement as to the order in which the respective 
stipulations were to be carried out. Negotiations began 
again, and were cut short in a dramatic fashion. The 
news suddenly spread that the Pope had disappeared from 
Sutri, to which town he had gone under the pretext of 
being nearer to the Emperor, who was then at Pisa. 
Then came tidings that riding through the night, disguised 
as a soldier, he had reached Civita Vecchia, where a 
Genoese fleet of twenty-two vessels, which had been fitted 
out and despatched with the greatest secrecy, awaited 
him. The Pope reached the harbour at dawn, and the 
fleet, only waiting for the arrival of some of his following, 
who had been unable to keep up with pontiff, set sail for 
Genoa. It was under the command of the Podesta, 
who had planned the whole enterprise in concert with 
Innocent ; and it carried three of the Pope's nephews 
and a strong force of chosen seamen and soldiers. In 
spite of a furious storm the fleet reached Genoa in safety, 
undisturbed by the Pisans, who had no inkling of its 
passage by their shores. 

The Genoese received the Pope with transports of joy. 
He gave out that his flight had been caused by the know- 
ledge that a plot had been laid to capture him, and that a 
force of German cavalry had been despatched to seize 
him at Sutri. " The wicked flee when no man pursueth " 
was Frederick's comment on his flight. In fact, it seems 
certain that the Genoese fleet had been summoned to Civita 
Vecchia long before the movement of the German cavalry 
towards Sutri. Innocent had clearly seen the dangers to 
which he would be exposed at Rome, and had deter- 
mined by a bold stroke to put himself beyond the limits 
of Frederick's power. 



WAR WITH THE LOMBARDS 297 

After a three months' stay in Genoa, the Pope set out 
for Lyons, a city nominally forming part of the Empire, 
but practically as free as Milan, and well disposed to him. 
Here he was close to the dominions of the King of France, 
to which he could easily betake himself if danger threat- 
ened from Frederick ; and the central position of the city, 
equally convenient for the prelates of Spain, England, 
and Germany, made it particularly suitable for the place 
of assembly of the General Council, which Innocent 
summoned to meet him in June, 1245. 

He chose the route over the Mont Cenis, rather than 
again expose himself to the dangers and discomforts of 
the sea. He traversed the lands of the Marquises of 
Carretto and those of Asti, Montferrat, and Savoy. The 
party of the Church was now predominant to the west 
of the Ticino. Alessandria had already re-entered the 
League ; Asti, which had up to now supported the 
Emperor, did not venture to keep the sick pontiff outside 
her walls, and seems then to have been won over to his 
sid-e. A more serious defection from Frederick was that 
of the Count of Savoy, who gave Innocent a free passage 
through his lands on both sides of the Alps. As soon as 
he had reached Lyons the Pope renewed the excom- 
munication against Frederick, without waiting for the 
assembly of the Council which was to give the final 
verdict in the quarrel. 

The Council began its sessions in June. The Pope 
himself appeared in the role of accuser. He denounced 
in scathing terms Frederick's conduct, his oppression of 
the Church in Sicily and Apulia, his harsh treatment of 
the prelates captured on the Genoese fleet, his perfidy, his 
unbelief, his scandalous life, resembling that of a Maho- 
metan rather than of a Christian prince. The Emperor's 
cause was defended with skill by the learned and eloquent 
Taddeo of Suessa. Frederick had advanced to Turin, 
the Italian city nearest to Lyons ; and it was now decided 
to allow him the space of twelve days in which to appear 
before the Council and justify himself. He refused, not 
unnaturally, to trust himself among so many enemies. At 
the end of the twelve days, a time too short for a messen- 



298 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

ger to go and return between Lyons and Turin, the Pope, 
in spite of a farther appeal from Taddeo, pronounced the 
final sentence. The Emperor was solemnly deposed, his 
subjects released from their allegiance, the German 
princes ordered to i proceed to a new election, all sup- 
porters of Frederick excommunicated. 

At the end, amidst the terror and astonishment of all 
who witnessed the ceremony, the Pope and all the pre- 
lates reversed and extinguished against the ground the 
torches which they had been holding, a symbol of the 
extinction of the Imperial glory. 

Frederick's journey to Turin had at least had the 
advantage of reviving his authority in Piedmont. The 
Marquises of Montferrat, Carretto, and Ceva again re- 
joined his party ; the burghers of Alessandria brought 
him the keys of their city ; Asti and the Count of Savoy 
returned to their allegiance. 

In the autumn Frederick turned his arms against the 
Milanese. He himself with the forces of Pavia and 
Piedmont advanced into their territory from the west. 
The Milanese, aided by some cavalry from Piacenza and 
five hundred Genoese cross-bowmen, made such skilful 
use of the rivers which intersect their territory, that 
Frederick could neither draw them to a pitched battle 
nor force his way towards the city. In the meantime 
King Enzio, with the levies of Parma, Reggio, Cremona, 
Lodi, and Bergamo, had attacked from the east. He had 
crossed the Adda and captured Gorgonzola, distant only 
a few miles from Milan, when his farther progress was 
checked by the men of two of the " gates " or quarters of 
the city, sent back in haste from the main camp, along 
with the Genoese. In the battle which followed Enzio 
was unhorsed and captured. He was released, however, 
by the charge, it would appear, of the men of Parma and 
Reggio, though the Milanese asserted that they had freed 
him on his swearing never again to enter their lands. 
Neither side could claim a victory ; but the fight stopped 
Enzio's advance, and shortly afterwards the Imperial 
forces withdrew from the Milanese to their own homes. 
This was the last attempt of Frederick to crush the 
metropolis of Lombardy. 



WAR WITH THE LOMBARDS 299 

After ten years of war the Emperor's cause was on the 
whole in the ascendant in Italy, All Romagna obeyed 
him, so did most of the Mark of Ancona. In Umbria, 
Perugia, Assisi, Orvieto, and Todi formed a powerful 
party opposed to him, but most of the other Communes 
had gone over to him, compelled by force or of their own 
free will. Rome and many of the small towns round 
about were hostile to him, but in 1246 Viterbo again 
joined his party. Of the Tuscan cities, Siena, Arezzo, and 
above all Pisa were active in his cause ; Lucca, though at 
variance with Pisa, does not seem to have opposed him. 
Florence had for years been torn by the dissensions of 
the Uberti and Buondedmonti, which had divided the 
nobles into two hostile camps. Both parties, however, 
had been obedient to Frederick, and had sent help to him 
at the siege of Faenza. At last the Uberti, two or three 
years after the Council at Lyons, obtained the active sup- 
port of the Emperor's son, Frederick of Antioch, and 
brought the city over decidedly to the Ghibelline party. 

Even 'in Lombardy the majority of the Communes 
were on his side. The main strength of his opponents 
was formed by Milan, Brescia, and Piacenza, with the 
lesser cities Crema, Novara, and Vercelli. In the east 
Bologna, Ferrara and Mantua formed a second hostile 
group ; and finally Treviso, isolated from all allies, still 
held her ground, under Alberic da Romano, against all 
the attacks of Ezzelino. 

Yet the very extent of country under Frederick's rule 
made it difficult for him to establish his authority on a 
firm basis anywhere. The fire of rebellion, stamped 
down in one district, was likely to spring up again in 
another from which, for the moment, the Imperial forces 
had been withdrawn. The spirit of faction had taken 
root everywhere, and everywhere the weaker faction was 
disposed to seek help from the enemies of the Commune. 
We have seen that some of the Brescian nobles took part 
in the siege of their city under Frederick's banner. At a 
later period a faction called the Malisardi handed over 
several important castles to the Cremonese. If the erst- 
while weaker party succeeded, with outside help, in getting 



300 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

the upper hand, forthwith it brought the Commune over 
to the opposite side in the great struggle which had in- 
volved all the cities. It is by the predominance within 
the walls, now of one party, now of another, that we must 
explain the frequent changes of side of cities such as 
Alessandria, Ravenna, or Vercelli. 

The verdict of the Council of Lyons gave a new 
weapon to all the disaffected parties in the Ghibelline 
cities. The thunders of the Church could not fail in the 
long run to affect the minds of the more timorous or the 
more scrupulous. The mendicant orders had become 
the most effective champions of the Papacy. They were 
to be found everywhere, in spite of the obstacles thrown 
in their way by Frederick, denouncing the supporters of 
the Emperor, dilating on his evil life, pointing out the 
fatal consequences in the next world of resistance to the 
Church in this. Ezzelino, we are told, " feared the Friars 
Minor more than any other persons in the world." ' 
Their arguments could be reinforced in the case of 
the merchant classes by very practical examples of the 
dangers even in this world of disobedience to the Church. 
The Pope, having the ear of the Transalpine peoples, 
could shut out the merchants of the offending cities from 
the markets, cause their goods to be seized, empower 
their creditors to refuse payment. So we find in the next 
few years signs of the growth of a Guelf, or Papal, party 
even in cities such as Cremona, which had hitherto been 
entirely devoted to Frederick. 

The three Emilian cities which were among the most 
active supporters of the Emperor had hitherto been 
singularly free from internal strife. In the year 1244, 
however, a rising of the trades guilds took place in 
Parma. They demanded a larger share in the govern- 
ment of the city, and chose as a leader a nephew of the 
Pope's, whom they raised to the new office of Captain of 
the People. Three of the Pope's sisters and one of his 
nieces had married into some of the chief noble families 
in Parma ; and these families, taking advantage of the 
disturbed state of the city, organised themselves into a 
^ Rolandino, cited by Leo, p. 308, vol. ii. 



WAR WITH THE LOMBARDS 301 

Guelf faction with the design of making themselves 
masters of the Commune. The plot was discovered, 
and the Pope's relatives, the Lupi, Rossi, San Vitale, and 
Correggeschi, with their supporters, were driven out, and 
their houses destroyed. The exiles retired to Reggio, 

This expulsion took place in 1245, and the exiles found 
similar disorders in Reggio. Here the great noble house 
of the Sessi had murdered the Podesta of the merchants 
in 1244 during an expedition against a neighbouring 
castle. This naturally led to tumults against the Sessi, 
and seems to have been used as a pretext for attacking 
them by some of their private enemies. In January, 1245, 
the two parties fought in the Piazza ; in the following 
summer the Fogliani (also relations of the Pope), the 
Roberti, the Lupicini (kinsmen of the murdered Podesta) 
joined in another attack on the Sessi. Some of their 
friends from outside the walls burst in through one of the 
gates, and the whole city was given over to street fighting. 
Enzio hurried to the spot, and drove the opponents of 
the Sessi, some twenty families in all, from the city, along 
with the exiles from Parma. 

The year 1246 was marked by no important events in 
Lombardy. In the next year the Emperor once more 
visited Turin ; and it was supposed that he was meditat- 
ing an attack on the Pope at Lyons, when news was 
brought to him of the sudden revolt of Parma. 

The exiles from Parma had gathered to the number of 
about seventy knights at Piacenza, from which they 
threatened the border districts of their own city. They 
learned that many of the best knights of Parma had gone 
with King Enzio to besiege a Brescian castle, and that 
the captain of the German garrison in the city was 
occupied in celebrating the marriage of his daughter. 
They resolved to strike a sudden blow at the city itself. 
Advancing with the greatest secrecy, they had almost 
reached the walls before news of their approach came 
to the ears of the Governor. He hurried out with such 
of the nobles as he could muster, and with those of the 
Germans whom the festivities had left sufficiently sober 
to fight. Almost at the first onset the Podesta, the poet 



302 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

Arrigo Testa of Arezzo, was slain, the Imperial Governor 
wounded, and his troops scattered. The Germans are 
said to have made no farther resistance, but to have 
called out to the exiles that they might go on and seize 
the town. The leading supporters of the Emperor, find- 
ing that they could not rouse the artisans, who remained 
undisturbed at their looms, in spite of the advance of the 
enemy, quitted the city, and shut themselves up in their 
castles in the Contado. 

The exiles entered the gates unmolested, and the mass 
of the citizens, by one of those sudden changes so common 
in the history of the Italians, at once embraced their party. 
Enzio hurried back from the Brescian territory, but failed 
to seize the crucial moment and to attack before Parma 
had thoroughly accepted the new regime. The Lombard 
forces hurried from all sides to secure their hold on this 
important acquisition. Three hundred horse came from 
Piacenza ; the exiles from Reggio and other Ghibelline 
Communes flocked there ; the Papal legate brought a 
thousand lances from Milan. Feverish efforts were made 
to provision the city and to put the walls in a proper 
state for defence. 

The loss of this great and wealthy city — it could muster 
one thousand burghers rich enough to serve on horse- 
back — was a heavy blow to Frederick. Parma com- 
manded the road leading by Pontremoli into Tuscany, 
which since the loss of Ferrara had been Frederick's 
chief means of communication with the centre and south 
of the Peninsula. He hurried back from Turin and 
gathered his forces from all sides for a siege. His sons 
Enzio and Frederick of Antioch, Ezzelino with a strong 
force from the cities of the Mark, the Marquis Lancia, 
Oberto Pelavicini, Buoso da Doara — in short, all his 
leading supporters — gathered round him. The Cremonese 
came in such numbers that only the old men were left to 
guard their walls ; the Pavesans came in force, as well 
as contingents from Reggio, Modena, and Bergamo. 
Besides these there were Germans and men of Frederick's 
southern dominions, and, most formidable of all, a body 
of Saracens from Lucera. The chronicler, Fra Salimbene 




Bologna. 
Tomb of Rolandino Passeggieri. 



To face page 303, 



WAR WITH THE LOMBARDS 303 

of Parma, estimates the total of Frederick's army at 
thirty-seven thousand men. 

The Guelfs had not been idle. It would seem as if all 
the leaders of both parties had gathered to Parma as to a 
spot where the long struggle was to be finally decided. 
The Count of San Bonifazio had come with the Mantuans; 
the Marquis of Este brought a large body of Ferrarese ; 
the Genoese sent three hundred cross - bowmen ; the 
Fieschi of Lavagna as many. Even Alberic da Romano 
and Biachino da Camino had made their way across the 
intervening hostile territory to the help of the threatened 
city. 

Within the walls the energy of the Papal legate, 
Montelungo, and of the monks had roused the en- 
thusiasm of the mass of the people. They placed 
themselves solemnly under the protection of the Blessed 
Virgin, and determined to perish under the ruins of their 
city rather than surrender. Attacks on the walls were 
repulsed, and the damage done by the engines of war 
made good by the efforts of the whole population ; but 
the weapon on which the Emperor chiefly relied for the 
reduction of the city was famine. The Mantuans and 
the Ferrarese endeavoured to send food by boat up the 
Po. On one occasion they succeeded in introducing a 
large supply; on another they were routed and their 
flotilla destroyed by the men of Reggio. 

Frederick now determined to terrify the besieged into 
submission. About two hundred of his chief partisans 
had left Parma at the time of the revolt, and were now 
serving in the Imperial camp. But all other natives of 
Parma had been seized by Frederick's command, wherever 
they could be found, and thrown into prison. Their 
number amounted to about a thousand, and was made 
up of merchants, of soldiers who had been serving as 
garrisons in various places, and of young men, many of 
them of the leading families, who had been studying law 
at the schools of Modena. ^ The Emperor declared that 
he would put some of these captives to death every day 

' Law schools, under Frederick's patronage, had been opened at 
Modena, to compete with those of the Guelf Bologna, 



304 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

until the city surrendered. Accordingly two nobles and 
two burghers were put to death before the walls. Next 
day two more shared the same fate. The infuriated 
citizens replied by burning alive on the Piazza several 
spies or messengers from the Emperor. Then the men 
of Pavia, to their eternal honour, protested against 
Frederick's conduct. " We have come to fight," said 
they, " not to act as executioners." These courageous 
words put a stop to farther cruelties. 

The approach of winter led Frederick to dismiss many 
of his troops. Many of the allies of Parma, not all of 
whom had shut themselves up within the walls, also 
returned home, for it seemed unlikely that the siege could 
be continued through the cold season. But Frederick, 
resolved to be turned aside by no obstacles, caused a new 
town to be constructed within four bow shots of the walls, 
and on the road leading to Piacenza. It was surrounded 
with walls and ditches, and furnished with several gates. 
A church and a palace were built ; and the houses were 
rapidly constructed from materials brought from the 
devastated villages of the Contado. In this town, to 
which the proud name of Vittoria was given, Frederick 
passed the winter secure against the inclemency of the 
weather, while other camps still maintained a close 
blockade round the city. 

The desperate position of the burghers, more and more 
a prey to hunger, gave them courage to strike a bold 
blow for safety. One day, when the siege had lasted nearly 
six months, the keen eyes of a Milanese watcher on the 
walls detected that the Emperor with a large body of 
followers had quitted Vittoria. He had been ill, and 
now, feeling better, had gone hawking along the banks 
of the Taro. The garrison of Vittoria, never dreaming of 
an attack from the starving townsmen, were keeping but 
a careless watch. The sentinel persuaded the legate 
and the captains to seize the opportunity, and stake all 
their fortunes on a sudden sally. The Milanese, the 
Piacentines, the infantry of Mantua attacked the lines on 
one side of the city ; the legate himself with the rest of 
the garrison rushed out against Vittoria. In front was 



WAR WITH THE LOMBARDS 305 

borne the standard of the Virgin. Behind followed a 
great multitude — old men, women, and children, press- 
ing on in one great wave of enthusiasm against the 
enemy. The garrison of Vittoria, taken unawares, could 
not check the fury of the assault. Once inside the walls 
the burghers set fire to some of the wooden buildings ; 
the flames spread, the disordered defenders were unable 
to re-form their ranks among the burning houses. In a 
short time the men of Parma were masters of the city 
which was meant to be the symbol of their destruction. 
The whole Imperial army was scattered in hopeless rout 
before any news of the onslaught could reach the 
Emperor. Two thousand of them are said to have 
perished ; three thousand were captured. 

Taddeo da Suessa, who was in temporary command, 
was found among the wounded, and was hacked to 
pieces by the furious burghers. The Imperial crown, of 
wonderful beauty, the sceptre, the seal of the Empire, 
the Carroccio of Cremona, called Berta, the contents of 
the treasury, and an incalculable amount of booty of all 
sorts fell into the hands of the victors. 

This disaster — the greatest in Frederick's career — put 
an end to all his hopes of crushing the Lombards. The 
war, however, dragged on. In the spring the Emperor 
again appeared before Parma, but could not undertake a 
siege. Small successes in the field restored his prestige 
in some measure. Vercelli again came over to his side. 
But he could not subdue the Marquis of Montferrat, who 
had taken Turin during the siege of Parma. Novara, too, 
which would seem to have once more submitted to him, 
re-entered the League in this year. 

In the Mark Ezzelino captured Feltre in 1248, and 
Belluno and Este in the following year. These successes 
could not counterbalance the loss of Romagna. The 
Pope had sent to Bologna, as his legate, the Cardinal 
Ottaviano degli Ubaldini. Of a great Tuscan Ghibelline 
house, this prelate had eagerly embraced the Guelf cause. 
He was far more of a warrior than a Churchman ; indeed, 
his orthodoxy was so doubtful that he was reported to 
have said, " If there is such a thing as a soul I have lost 

20 



306 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

mine on account of the Ghibellines " ; and Dante has 
placed him beside Frederick and Farinata degh Uberti 
in the burning coffers where the incredulous are punished 
in hell : — 

"Qua dentro e lo secondo Federico 
E il Cardinale."' 

He induced the Bolognese to organise a great expedi- 
tion against Romagna. Imola, Ravenna, Cesena, Forlim- 
popoH, Cervia, Bertinoro, and Rimini all submitted and 
joined the Guelfs. Faenza, where there was an Imperial 
garrison, surrendered after a fortnight's siege. 

Then the Bolognese turned against Modena. During 
the fifty years in which the two cities had been almost 
uninterruptedly at war the valiant burghers of Modena 
had obtained more than one striking victory in the open 
field. As late as 1239, in conjunction with the men of 
Parma, they had routed the Bolognese, capturing two 
thousand prisoners. But the superior population and 
resources of Bologna were beginning to tell in the long 
run. A large part of the Modenese territory had been 
conquered. During the siege of Parma the family of the 
Rangoni had left the Emperor's camp and started a 
Guelf faction in Modena. They and their followers, to 
whom the name of Aigoni was given, had been driven 
from Modena ; but the Bolognese had estabhshed them 
in the castle of Savignano, not far from the city. 

The Bolognese, under the leadership of the Cardinal, 
advanced towards Modena. Their army consisted of a 
thousand horse from the nobles, the men of three out 
of the four quarters of the city, the contingents of 
Mantua and of the towns of Romagna, and three thou- 
sand horse and two thousand foot, sent by the Marquis 
of Este. King Enzio led out the Modenese against their 
enemies. With him were Germans and Apulians, the 
exiles of Parma and Piacenza, and auxiliaries from 
Cremona, Reggio, and Pavia. The two armies met at 
Fossalta. After a long and desperate battle the superior 
numbers of the Bolognese army prevailed. The Mode- 
* " Inferno," Canto X. 



WAR WITH THE LOMBARDS 307 

nese line was broken, and their army scattered in flight. 
Enzio and his chief captains, trying in vain to restore 
order, were captured, along with more than sixteen 
hundred others. 

The victors re-entered Bologna in triumph. The 
young king, only twenty-four years of age, excited 
universal admiration by his personal beauty, his curling 
yellow locks falling to his waist, his courage and his 
talents as a leader. The Senate of Bologna determined 
that such an enemy should never be let free to take 
revenge for this defeat. He was treated with all possible 
honour, but a law was passed forbidding his release. 
In spite of the promises and the threats of Frederick, the 
Bolognese remained constant in this resolution. Enzio 
passed the remaining twenty-two years of his life con- 
fined in a sumptuous suite of rooms in the palace of the 
Podesta, where he was visited every day by the chief 
nobles of the city, who endeavoured to solace his cap- 
tivity by every means in their power. He died still a 
captive, young in years, but the last survivor of the 
House of Hohenstaufen. 

In September the Bolognese laid siege to Modena. 
The burghers defended themselves stoutly behind their 
walls. To draw them out into the open the Bolognese 
shot from one of their catapults the dead body of an ass, 
shod with silver — a most deadly insult according to the 
ideas of the time. The carcass landed in the basin of 
the chief fountain in the town. This so infuriated the 
Modenese that they made a vigorous sortie, threw the 
besiegers into confusion, and destroyed the machine from 
which the insulting missile had come. Enough had now 
been done for honour ; so, seeing no chance of help 
from the Emperor, Modena negotiated for peace. This 
was easily granted, on condition that the Aigoni should 
be readmitted, and that the city should join the Guelfs. 
The Bolognese restored their conquests, the legate 
reconciled the city with the Church ; and so in January, 
1250, Frederick lost one of his most vigorous allies. 

Shortly before this Como, equally hard pressed by 
Milan, had been forced to re-enter the League. The 



308 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

return of Faenza and Ravenna to Frederick's side in 1248 
could not compensate for these losses. One last gleam 
of success came to the Emperor in 1250, when Piacenza, 
hitherto one of the pillars of the League, suddenly 
came over to his side. This city had been the deadly 
foe of Parma for more than sixty years ; and it was 
scarcely to be expected that this long-standing hostility 
should be blotted out by the accession of Parma to the 
Guelf cause. The ruling nobles of Piacenza, however, 
putting the interests of party before local patriotism, 
had taken a Podesta from Parma ; and this man, during 
a time of scarcity, had sent a large supply of grain to his 
own city. This excited a tumult among the mass of the 
people. They soon got the upper hand, and elected as 
Rector of the people Uberto de Iniquitate, one of the 
banished chiefs of the popular party. He secured the 
return of the exiles, amongst whom was the noble family 
of De Andito, or Landi. The Guelf nobles left the city, 
and Piacenza ranged itself on the side of the Emperor. 

The war against Parma was at once renewed. The 
combined forces of Piacenza and Cremona, under the 
Podesta of the latter city, Oberto Peiavicini, the chief 
Ghibelline leader in Central Lombardy, gained a great 
victory under the very walls of Parma. Besides those 
who perished in the fight great numbers of the Par- 
mesans were drowned in the ditches of the city, which 
itself very nearly fell into the hands of the victors. The 
Cremonese might think their rout at Vittoria well 
avenged, for they brought home in triumph fifteen 
hundred prisoners and the Carroccio of Parma, called 
Blancardo. 

But this success came too late to be of use to the 
Imperial cause. Frederick had practically abandoned 
the war in Lombardy, and, retiring to the south, tried, 
but in vain, to induce Innocent to agree to terms of 
peace. Worn out before his time, perhaps as much 
by his continual misfortunes as by his excesses, he died 
in Apulia in December, 1250.^ 

' The Archbishop of Palermo reconciled him with the Church on 
his deathbed and gave him the sacraments. 



WAR WITH THE LOMBARDS 309 

All possibility of reviving the authority of the Empire 
in Italy came to an end with Frederick's death. For 
sixty years, except for the short visit of his son and 
successor, Conrad, Italy was free from any semblance 
of German control. In Germany the Imperial authority 
never recovered the ground it had lost during his reign. 
In order to win support for his Italian projects Frederick 
had been forced to make concessions to the German 
feudatories, which practically destroyed the prerogatives 
of the Emperor.i After Conrad's death, in 1254, until 
the election of Rudolf of Habsburg, there is a period 
of almost twenty years during which there was no 
recognised sovereign of Germany. When at last the 
interregnum came to an end, the monarchy of the 
Hohenstaufens had become a federation of practically 
independent princes, who left little to their nominal 
superior beyond the empty title of Caesar. 

But the struggle between Frederick and the Second 
Lombard League had been disastrous for the Communes 
also. To make head against enemies without and factions 
within, the cities had been inevitably compelled to put 
the supreme direction of affairs in the hands of a single 
individual. Ambitious feudal nobles or able demagogues 
were not slow to seize on the chance thus offered them 
of establishing a despotic rule in the communities over 
whose destinies they had gained control. We have seen 
Verona and Ferrara yielding themselves to a master in 
order to make head against their enemies. 

The other cities were not slow to follow on the same 
path. The rest of our history will show how one and all, 
a prey to internal faction, and engulphed in the conflict 
of Guelfs and Ghibellines — which divided all Italy into 
two hostile camps — the Communes lost the liberties for 
which they had struggled so hard, and sank under the 
yoke of the despot. 

' One should not omit to mention that in the years after the 
Council of Lyons the Pope had stirred up revolts in Germany, which 
prevented Frederick from getting any considerable support from 
that country, and seriously crippled him in his campaigns against 
the Lombards. 



CHAPTER XI 

THE FALL OF EZZELINO — THE CAREER OF OBERTO 
PELAVICINI 

With the death of Frederick, and the eclipse of the 
authority of the Empire which followed, it seemed as if 
the free cities had definitely triumphed in Lombardy. 
Once more, as after the Peace of Constance, we might 
have looked for the establishment of a federation of 
which the germ already existed in the Lombard League. 
But now, even more than in the days of Barbarossa, 
anything more than a temporary union was rendered 
impossible by the rivalry between city and city, and 
by internal dissensions. The whole of Italy had ranged 
itself into two hostile camps during the struggle between 
Frederick and the Papacy, and the internal factions, 
checked in the first stress of the war, had sprung up 
again and grafted themselves on to these great parties. 
In one city the nobles, in another the people had 
embraced the cause of the Empire ; in yet another 
rival noble families had sought to strengthen themselves 
by declaring for one or the other side in the quarrel. 
The violence of faction had increased during the later 
days of Frederick's reign ; the factions themselves 
remained after his death. But they were no longer 
mere detached quarrels in one particular city. Each 
party had allies outside the walls, and could invoke the 
help of one-half of Lombardy in the name of the Empire 
or the Papacy. 

The factions survived Frederick's death. To the 
struggle between the Empire and the League with its 
ally the Papacy succeeds that between Guelf and 

310 



THE FALL OF EZZELINO 311 

Ghibelline. These factions arose from the blending 
of the greater quarrel with the rivalry between city and 
city, and still more with the party struggles within the 
walls. All menace from the side of Germany to the 
freedom of the Communes had disappeared. Yet the 
warfare in Lombardy still went on, and the quarrel of 
Guelf and Ghibelline — upholders in theory of principles 
already dead — continued, and attained its maximum 
development at a time when the contest between Pope 
and Emperor had apparently reached its close. 

The history of Lombardy for the next fifty or sixty 
years is made up of a confused and often ferocious struggle 
between city and city, between party and party, of an 
endless shifting of the balance of power and of the 
grouping of the Communes, as now fortune sways to 
the side of the Guelfs, now to the side of the Ghibellines. 
The final result of this tangle of strife is the total dis- 
appearance from Lombardy of republican institutions 
and the rise of a new form of government, the rule of 
the Despot. 

A salient feature in the history of the Communes 
during the second half of the thirteenth century is the 
increasing violence of factions within the walls. We 
have already traced the origin of these dissensions in 
various cities. The struggles between rival communities, 
and above all the great conflict between Frederick II. 
and the League, to a certain extent had checked internal 
strife. But we have seen how some years before the 
Emperor's death factions had shown themselves again, 
and had even arisen in cities such as Parma, which up 
to then had been free from such troubles.^ On his death 
civic discord broke out afresh, and with more violence 
than ever now that all danger from outside was removed. 
It was augmented by the steady growth of the importance 
of the popolo. 

The mass of the people were increasing in numbers 
and wealth, in spite of the constant warfare. The 
members of the trades guilds contributed more and more 

' Also in Cremona, which, except for a few years in the early part 
of the century, had been free from internal strife. 



312 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

to the revenue of the Commune ; and it was but natural 
that, as time went on, they should demand a greater share 
in the government. 

We have already seen the beginnings of the struggle 
between the middle classes and the ruling aristocracy. 
The latter had held their ground during the years when 
the war for or against Frederick II. had taxed the whole 
energies of the Communes. But once this conflict was 
over, the middle classes, who had borne the brunt of the 
struggle, press forward to power in every city. The 
aristocracy almost everywhere oppose them vigorously, 
but unsuccessfully. The transference of power to the 
middle classes is another salient feature in the history of 
the fifty years after Frederick's death. 

Another characteristic is the blotting out to a great 
extent of the old political landmarks. Up to now there 
has been something like continuity in the foreign policy 
of the towns. Milan and Brescia oppose the Hohen- 
staufens, Cremona and Pavia support them. But hence- 
forward we find sudden changes in the attitude of the 
cities, according as one faction or another gets the upper 
hand. So Parma, so long devoted to Frederick, was 
seized by a party among the nobles and brought over 
to the side of the Church ; almost immediately afterwards 
Piacenza, where the nobles had ruled for fourteen years, 
passes under the control of the popolo, and abandons 
its traditional alliance with Milan. In Milan, where 
nobles and people had been equally hostile to the 
Emperor, the nobles, expelled from the cities by their 
adversaries, openly join the Ghibellines. The nobles 
of Pavia, on the other hand, seek aid from the popolo 
of Milan and become Guelf. Before long we shall see 
Milan Ghibelline and Cremona the bulwark of the 
Guelfs ; while other cities, such as Asti and Alessandria, 
change sides with bewildering rapidity. We have to 
deal now with a tangled strife between Commune and 
Commune, between nobles and commons, between rival 
noble families, the whole inextricably bound up with 
contending theories abut the supremacy of Pope or 
Emperor. 



THE FALL OF EZZELINO 313 

Frederick's death seemed to render the triumph of 
Milan and her allies certain. Outside the Mark, where 
Ezzelino ruled with practically sovereign power, almost 
the only cities north of the Apennines faithful to the 
Imperial cause were Cremona, Pavia, Piacenza, Lodi, 
Bergamo, Vercelli, and Ivrea, The death of the Emperor 
disheartened his supporters. When Innocent, leaving 
his retreat at Lyons, re-entered Italy, he was met by 
overtures for submission from many of the enemies of 
the Church. The Count of Savoy and the Marquis 
of Carretto were among the first to be reconciled with 
the pontiff ; Albenga and Savona made their peace with 
Genoa. Even the Pisans sent to treat for peace ; and 
neither Pavia nor Lodi made any attempt to hinder the 
Pope's journey to Milan. 

Lodi was at this time distracted by faction. The 
family of the Averganghi headed the nobles ; the popolo 
had found leaders in the noble house of the Vistarini. 
The former looked for help to Cremona and Pavia, the 
latter to Milan. Each faction called its allies to its aid. 
After considerable fighting the Milanese party gained the 
day ; Succio dei Vistarini, Captain of the People, was 
entrusted with its government for ten years, and Lodi 
entered into an alliance with Milan. In the same year 
(1251) Pavia made peace with her old rival — a peace 
which, however, was little more than a truce — and the 
partisans of the Empire were driven from Asti. 

The supporters of the Pope seemed now free to reduce 
their few remaining enemies in Central Lombardy, and 
to crush the tyrant of the Trevisan Mark. But the union 
between the Guelf cities relaxed with the removal of 
external dangers. Fresh dissensions broke out in Milan 
between the nobles and the people. The efforts of the 
Pope, who was alarmed by the arrival in Lombardy 
in 1 25 1 of Conrad, son and successor of Frederick, led 
to a renewal of the League by eight cities.^ But this 
league had no immediate results ; the nobles in Milan 
began to lean towards the Ghibelline party ; and order 

' Alessandria, Novara, Milan, Brescia, Mantua, Modena, Ferrara, 
Bologna. 



314 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

was only restored in the Commune by appointing as 
Podesta and Captain-General the Marquis Lancia of 
Incisa, the uncle of Frederick's natural son Manfred, and 
an ardent Ghibelline. He held these posts for three 
years ; and his tenure of office would seem to indicate 
the predominance of the nobles in the Commune, during 
which time the ardour of Milan for the Papal cause 
sensibly cooled. 

In the meantime the Ghibellines, as we may now once 
for all call the supporters of the Hohenstaufens, found 
capable leaders. It is remarkable that nearly all the 
prominent figures which stand forth during the ensuing 
years belong to this party. In the south, Conrad and 
Manfred, finding all their efforts for a reconciliation with 
the Pope fruitless — for Innocent had resolved on the 
utter destruction of the Hohenstaufens — taxed all the 
pontiff's efforts to subdue them. In Central Lombardy 
Cremona and Piacenza found in Oberto Pelavicini and 
Buoso da Doara leaders of great military capacity, who 
not only beat off all attacks on these cities, but, aided 
by internal dissensions in other towns, extended their 
influence far and wide in Lombardy, and revived or 
strengthened the Ghibelline cause in Parma, Como, 
Tortona, and Vercelli. In Parma the disastrous results 
of the war with Cremona and Piacenza led to a popular 
movement to reconcile the two opposing factions. A 
certain Ghiberto da Gente was set up as Podesta of the 
People, and recalled the exiled Ghibellines. He then 
made peace with Cremona, and the prisoners who had 
languished in the dungeons of that city since the great 
defeat of Parma in 1250 returned home. Out of 1,575 
only 318 had survived the rigours of their captivity. 
Ghiberto governed the city for the next six years by the 
favour of the popolo, with practically despotic power, 
and though at first he professed neutrality, he seems to 
have ruled as a Ghibelline. 

Though Pope Innocent kept urging on the Milanese 
and their allies the necessity of prompt action against the 
growing power of Pelavicini and the tyranny of Ezzelino, 
it was not until 1256 that an army could be got together 



THE FALL OF EZZELINO 315 

to attack the Mark. Innocent IV. died before this year, 
and it was the exhortations of his successor, Alexander IV., 
which finally set this enterprise in motion. 

During all the vicissitudes of the past fifteen years 
Ezzelino's power had been steadily increasing. Frederick, 
sufficiently occupied elsewhere, had given him full con- 
trol over the affairs of the Mark, placing under his orders 
the Imperial officers sent to administer the various cities. 
In time Ezzelino got the appointment of these officers 
into his own hands. Instead of Germans or Apulians we 
find kinsmen or dependents of the Lord of Romano as 
Podestas of the Communes or Captains of the fortresses. 
Ezzelino began to act with more and more independence 
of his sovereign. Frederick's death, far from dis- 
couraging him, only gave freer scope to his ambitions. 
The dream of making himself master of all Lombardy, 
independent of any control from beyond the Alps, may 
have flashed across his mind. 

Besides Feltre and Belluno he had brought Trent 
under his power ; the town and castle of Este were 
captured soon after the conquest of Belluno ; in the year 
of Frederick's death Cerro and Calaon, the last fortresses 
held by Azzo in the Mark, fell into his hands. But Tre- 
viso, under Alberic and the lords of Camino, resisted 
him ; so too did Mantua, in spite of repeated devastations 
of its territory. 

His cruelty increased as the years went by. In the 
pages of Maurisio Ezzelino appears to us as a strenuous 
and chivalrous party leader, in no way more cruel than 
the other leaders of his day. Now he turns into a verit- 
able monster, suspicious of all, and filled with an 
insatiable lust for blood. The change was a gradual 
one ; and the chroniclers, especially Rolandino, whose 
work was published but a few years after the tyrant's 
death, have left us such precise statements about his 
actions as must convince us of their truth. 

His rule in Verona was, as we have seen, grounded on 
the favour of the multitude, and had been secured by 
giving the middle classes access to the offices of the 
state. But even here blood flowed in streams. The 



316 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

smallest suspicion, the vaguest denunciation, was enough 
to bring about the destruction of a whole family. 
Among the victims were his former allies, the Mon- 
tecchi,! his father-in-law with his sons, and even his 
half-brother. 

In Vicenza, as in Verona, it was the nobles who had 
most to fear from his rule. Here he imprisoned and 
mutilated without distinction of age or sex the members 
of the family of Pilei, who for fifty years past had played 
a great part in Vicenza, sometimes as allies, more often as 
opponents, of the House of Romano. 

It was in Padua, however, that he gave fullest scope to 
his pitiless spirit. He felt that he was hateful to all 
classes in this Commune, formerly the bulwark of free- 
dom in the Mark. Neither age nor sex was safe from 
his fury ; no one was too high placed or too insignificant 
to escape his suspicions. The great family of the Dales- 
mannini had long been among his most ardent sup- 
porters. A widow lady of their house, residing at 
Mantua, and therefore quite beyond the influence of her 
kinsmen, married a dependent of the Count of San 
Bonifazio. At once the Dalesmannini were seized and 
put to death. The whole family of the Caponegri was 
blotted out, and their fate was shared by many houses of 
less note. William of Camposampiero perished on the 
scaffold in 1251 ; all his relations and friends were 
seized, and most of them shared the same fate. One, to 
escape torture, flung himself from an upper window of 
his palace. Besides those of both sexes who perished 
by fire or on the scaffold, innumerable victims died 
under torture. The children of some of the noblest 
Paduan families were blinded or otherwise mutilated. 

EzzeHno's nephew, Ansedisio dei Guidotti, to whom 
he entrusted the government of Padua, showed himself, 
if possible, more merciless than his uncle. The existing 
prison was not large enough to hold the suspects ; he 
built two new dungeons, and all three were soon full to 
overflowing. Those who were led out to execution 
were perhaps more fortunate than those who were left to 

' In 1253. 



THE FALL OF EZZELINO 317 

languish in the noisome cells until hunger and thirst or 
disease freed them from their misery. 

On one occasion the courage of one of his destined 
victims nearly freed the Mark from Ezzelino's tyranny. 
Two brothers from Monselice were accused of treason, 
and brought to Ezzelino's residence. They began to 
protest their innocence with loud cries. The tyrant 
heard the noise as he was sitting at table, and came out 
to mock them and their despair. Suddenly one of them 
flung himself on Ezzelino and bore him to the ground. 
Not finding any weapon on his person, he tore his face 
with his teeth, and tried to strangle him with his 
manacled hands. His brother tried to come to his help, 
but was cut down by the guards. Not until they had 
literally hacked the assailant to pieces could they succeed 
in rescuing the half-strangled Ezzelino. 

Soon afterwards an unknown man was arrested as he 
was trying to penetrate to the presence of the tyrant. 
He was seized and searched, and a dagger was found on 
him. Repeatedly put to the torture, no words could be 
wrung from him, and he seemed not to understand any 
of the languages in which he was addressed. He was 
burned alive ; and common fame asserted that he was an 
emissary of the Old Man of the Mountains, the head of 
the famous eastern sect of the Assassins. 

The efforts of Pope Alexander at length set in motion 
a crusade to rid the Mark of the tyrant. The Archbishop 
of Ravenna, a prelate whose mode of life was more 
suited to the camp than to the Church, was sent to 
Ferrara to direct the enterprise. The same indulgences 
were promised to all who would join him as were 
accorded to those who fought against the Saracens in 
the East. The Archbishop found the most effectual 
help in Venice, a city which could not view without 
anxiety the growth of Ezzelino's power in the Mark. 

The crusading army landed from the Venetian lagoons 
near the mouth of the Brenta. A Venetian noble, 
Guistiniani, commanded the contingent of his city ; 
the Papal banner was entrusted to the young Tisone, 
the last survivor of the great house of Camposampiero. 



318 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

A whole division was composed of exiled Paduans ; 
monks of every order accompanied the host, exciting 
enthusiasm by their preaching. 

Ezzelino was engaged in a determined effort to capture 
Mantua, and was also hoping to get possession of Brescia 
by the help of the nobles, who were, as usual, at war with 
the popolo. He did not abandon his enterprise on hear- 
ing of the projected attack on Padua. The strong walls, 
the difficult country between it and the sea, and the 
large mercenary garrison under Ansedisio would, he 
considered, be enough to foil all attacks. 

But Ansedisio proved himself an incapable general. 
He led a force, composed largely of Paduans, to stop 
the progress of the invaders ; but so many of these took 
the opportunity of deserting that he found it impossible 
to risk a battle ; and on the legate making a feint of 
marching directly on the city, he hurried back to shut 
himself up within the walls. The crusading army then 
took, one after the other, the castles between Padua and 
the sea, and effected a junction with a second force, led 
by the Marquis of Este, from Rovigo. Ansedisio diverted 
the course of the Brenta, to prevent the Venetian vessels 
from sailing up towards the city ; but the result was that 
his enemies passed over the dry bed of the river, and 
with little difficulty captured the suburbs. The troops 
within the walls offered a valiant resistance to the first 
assault. But the monks in the crusading army rushed 
forward with a battering-ram under the shelter of a 
wooden penthouse, and began to batter the gate of Ponte 
Altinate. The defenders hurled flaming pitch and oil on 
the machine, and set it on fire. The flame was so great 
that the wooden doors of the gateway themselves caught 
fire. The assailants, seeing this, fed the flames, and the 
doors were consumed. The defence began to slacken ; 
the burghers showed signs of rising on the garrison. 
Ansedisio lost courage, and fled with his partisans 
through the western gate. 

The legate and his army entered the city in triumph, 
amidst the jubilation of the inhabitants, freed at last from 
a slavery which had lasted twenty years. But the 



THE FALL OF BZZELINO 319 

crusaders had been largely recruited from the dregs of 
the population of the neighbouring cities, and, breaking 
all the bonds of discipline, they began ^ horrible sack. 
For eight days the miserable city was subjected to the 
licence of the unbridled soldiery. Rich and poor alike 
were stripped of their possessions. Though but tew 
were slain, numbers were tortured to compel them to 
disclose their riches, and the women were outraged 
The Paduans asked themselves whether they had not 
suffered as much in those few days as in all the years ot 

Ezzelino's tyranny. _, ^ i 

At last the legate restored order. The Paduans, in 
spite of all their losses, could congratulate themselves on 
having recovered their liberty. The interdict which had 
so long lain on the city was removed, and the churches 
resounded with hymns of joy. From the opened prisons 
came forth a miserable multitude. More than a thousand 
were found in the three chief prisons,xand there were six 
smaller ones, all filled with captives. Men and women 
come forth, some blinded, some deprived of a hand or 
foot, others without a tongue. Among them were troops 
of children deprived of their eyesight, or still more bar- 
barously mutilated. , ,., 

The capture of Padua was followed by the liberation 
of Este, Monselice, Cittadella, and the greater part of the 
territory of Padua. Then the crusaders advanced to- 
wards Vicenza. The long-forgotten Fra Giovanni of 
Schio reappears for a moment at the head of the Bolog- 
nese contingent. Near Vicenza they were joined by 
Alberic and the Trevisans. 

Ezzelino had hastened back from Mantua o" hean^g 
that the legate's forces were close to Padua. The tirst 
messenger who announced the loss of the city was 
hanged ; Ansedisio, who arrived to confirm the news, 
met with no mercy— he was executed in Verona, ine 
army of the crusaders retreated in confusion as soon as 
they heard of Ezzelino's approach. The Bolognese se 
the example, and withdrew to their own city. The (^ueit 
' One of these, the famous "Malta," was in the little town of 
Cittadella. Its ruins still exist. 



320 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

leaders looked on Alberic with suspicion, and refused 
to allow him to enter Padua ; he retired in anger to 
Treviso, and at once opened negotiations with his 
brother. 

Then Ezzelino advanced to recover Padua. But the 
city was so well defended that after three fruitless assaults 
he had to retire. After securing Vicenza with a garrison 
of Saracens, Germans, and his faithful vassals of Bassano 
and Asolo, he withdrew to Verona, meditating a horrid 
vengeance on Padua. At the time of the capture of that 
city he had in his army the flower of the burgher forces, 
numbering, it is said, eleven thousand. He had assem- 
bled them without arms in the enclosure of the Church 
of Saint George at Verona. Here he surrounded them 
with his armed forces, and demanded that all the men 
from the village where the legate had first encamped 
should be handed over to him for punishment. The 
trembling multitude pointed these out to him, and they 
were led away to prison. Then he demanded in succes- 
sion the inhabitants of the first fortress which had sur- 
rendered, then those of Cittadella which had first revolted, 
then those of the whole remaining Contado. The towns- 
men pointed these out, and they were led off. Then he 
demanded the inhabitants of such and such a street, of 
such and such a quarter, then all the nobles who re- 
mained. In short, the whole multitude was seized in 
turn, and lodged in prison without an attempt at resist- 
ance. Now on his return to Verona he gave orders to 
slay all who had survived the rigours of their captivity. 
Of the whole number only two hundred escaped by 
some means or other with their lives.^ 

He then prepared to prosecute the war. He was 
completely reconciled, after a quarrel which had lasted 
eighteen years, with his brother Alberic, so that he could 
now count on the support of Treviso ; and he entered 
into a close alliance with Oberto Pelavicini and Buoso da 
Doara, who between them ruled Cremona. The next 
year, 1257, passed only in unimportant skirmishes and 

' It seems impossible to doubt the truth of this story, though the 
number of eleven thousand seems entirely incredible. 



THE FALL OF EZZELINO 321 

raids, varied by bloody executions in Verona and 
Treviso. 

The legate had gone to Mantua and then to Brescia 
in order to compose the dissensions of that city. As 
usual nobles and popolo were at feud in Brescia. For 
many years past the nobles had formed an association, 
called the Malisardi, which had openly sided with 
Frederick II. against the Commune. It would appear 
that at this moment the nobles had obtained the upper 
hand, and that the leaders of the other party were in 
prison. Ezzelino had long been endeavouring to induce 
the nobles to accept him as their leader, but these feared 
such a dangerous ally, and so far had rejected his offers. 
Now the legate induced them to make peace with the 
popolo and to release the captives. But the quarrel 
broke out again almost at once, and this time the nobles 
were driven from the city. Forced at last to accept 
Ezzelino's overtures, they arranged for a joint attack on 
Brescia by Ezzelino and the Cremonese. 

The legate had with him a considerable force inside 
the walls, under Leonisio, son of Count Rizzardo of San 
Bonifazio (who had died in 1254), and Biachino da 
Camino. Instead of awaiting attack within the city, he 
sallied out to the relief of some beleaguered castles. 
The mere junction of Ezzelino with the Cremonese 
spread such terror in the Guelf ranks, that they scarcely 
offered any resistance when brought face to face with the 
enemy. The whole army fled in wild confusion. Four 
thousand prisoners fell into the hands of the Ghibellines, 
amongst them the Bishop of Verona, the Podestas of 
Brescia and Mantua, and the legate himself. Brescia 
opened her gates at once to the victors ; the Bishop and 
most of the clergy and the leading Guelfs fled, and the 
three Ghibelline leaders divided the rule of the city. 
Strange to say, Ezzelino treated the captive legate with 
respect. He seems to have distinguished between open 
enemies and those whom he looked on as domestic 
rebels. 

The acquisition of Brescia counterbalanced the loss of 
Padua. Yet it led ultimately to EzzeHno's downfall. He 

21 



322 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

was determined to gain full possession of Brescia. He 
therefore tried to stir up strife between his two colleagues 
Buoso and Oberto, But each revealed to the other the 
proposals of their dreaded ally ; and, no longer feeling 
themselves safe, they left the city. Ezzelino at once 
assumed the sole government. 

In their anger at this treachery Buoso and Oberto 
offered their alliance to Azzo of Este. The Guelfs and 
Ghibellines of Lombardy already had begun to feel that 
their interests were not necessarily bound up with the re- 
lations between the Papacy and the Empire. The Guelfs 
looked to their own immediate aims, which were not 
always identical with those of the Papacy. We shall 
soon see professed Guelfs in open opposition to the Pope. 
The Ghibellines put their own interests before principles, 
which, now that there was no Emperor, were in a 
measure merely theoretical. 

So, although the Pope had expressly forbidden any 
peace with Pelavicini, a league was made in June, 1259, 
between Cremona and its two chiefs, on one side, and 
Azzo of Este, the young Count of San Bonifazio, and the 
Communes of Mantua, Ferrara, and Padua on the other. 
The confederates bound themselves to utterly destroy the 
brothers Ezzelino and Alberic, to recognise Manfred as 
King of Apulia and Sicily, and to try and reconcile him 
with the Church, and to aid Pelavicini to recover Pia- 
cenza, from which he had lately been expelled. 

The first attack of the confederates was on Brescia, 
where Ezzelino himself was, with the flower of his 
troops. Far from being dismayed by the confederacy 
against him, he was planning a stupendous stroke. It 
was nothing less than to gain possession of Milan, as he 
had lately seized on Brescia. The dissensions between 
the nobles and people in Milan, of which we shall shortly 
speak, had lately resulted in the expulsion from the city 
of the greater part of the nobles. The exiles, maintaining 
themselves in their castles in the Contado, followed the 
example of the Brescian nobles and made secret over- 
tures to Ezzelino. He promised his help to restore them 
in return for the lordship of the city. 



THE FALL OF EZZELINO 323 

He laid his plan with the utmost skill. As if unwilling 
to await the attack of his opponents behind the walls of 
Brescia, he moved with his army to attack the town of 
Orzinuovi in the territory of Brescia, where Pelavicini 
had a garrison. The Cremonese at once brought all 
their forces to Soncino on the opposite bank of the 
Oglio, as if fearing Ezzelino meant to fall on Crema, 
which had lately come into Pelavicini's hands. The 
Marquis of Este with the men of Ferrara and Mantua 
posted himself at Marcaria on the left bank of the Oglio, 
to strike at Ezzelino's communications if he should 
cross the Oglio. At the same time the people of Milan 
sent out their army under their leader Martino della 
Torre, to co-operate, as had been agreed on, with the 
Cremonese. 

This latter move was precisely what Ezzelino had been 
counting on. As if fearing to be cut off from Brescia he 
gave orders to retreat on that city. The infantry marched 
off to Brescia ; but Ezzelino with his cavalry, the most 
numerous that had ever been seen in Lombardy, and 
amounting, say some, to eight thousand men, rapidly 
pushed up the left bank of the Oglio, unmarked by the 
enemy. When he had reached Palazzuolo, not far from 
where the river issues from Lake Iseo, he crossed 
suddenly into the territory of Bergamo, and marched 
with the utmost speed straight for Milan. 

He had counted on the Cremonese and Milanese 
passing the Oglio to pursue him towards Brescia, and 
expected to get between the Milanese army and their city. 
The nobles had partisans inside the walls, who would 
open one of the gates to him, and thus the metropolis 
of Lombardy, empty of defenders, would fall into his 
hands. 

Unluckily for the success of this daring scheme, the 
Milanese army had moved more slowly than he had 
expected, and was still at Cassano on the right bank of 
the Adda. There were Guelfs among the nobles of 
Bergamo, and some of these sent hasty messengers to 
Martino della Torre to warn him of Ezzelino's move- 
ments. At once the Milanese hastened home, and 



324 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

arrived at Milan before the enemy. The citizens at 
once rushed to man the walls, and Ezzelino saw his 
whole design frustrated. 

With the Milanese nobles who had flocked to join him 
he turned north, and assaulted the important town of 
Monza. The inhabitants beat him back, and he then 
resolved on retreat. A first attempt to recross the Adda 
at Trezzo was foiled by the strong castle which com- 
manded the bridge there. Then he turned south to the 
bridge at Cassano. An advanced guard of cavalry had 
seized the bridge when the Cremonese and the Marquise 
of Este came up from the east, and after a severe fight 
drove them back. ^ 

Ezzelino's situation might well appear desperate. Two 
great rivers were between him and his own territories ; 
all the bridges and fords of the Adda were guarded ; and 
the Milanese army was advancing in his rear. Yet he 
showed no signs of discouragement. Only once had his 
countenance appeared disturbed. It was when he heard 
the name Cassano. An astrologer had warned him that 
" Assano " would be fatal to him.^ He had therefore 
avoided all places with names ending in these syllables, 
and had for years kept away from the original seat of his 
power Bassano. He had not gone forward with the 
vanguard to seize the bridge, and perhaps it is to his 
absence that its loss should be ascribed. 

Now, seeing no help for it, he advanced to retake the 
bridge at all costs. He had almost succeeded when he 
was wounded by an arrow, and his discouraged followers 
at once began to retreat. Next day, the wound having 
been dressed, he rallied his men, and directed them 
against a ford higher up the river, giving a passage into 
the territory of Bergamo. His forces had barely crossed 
when the Cremonese and their allies appeared, and 

' Or it may have been his mother's prophecy which was running 
in his mind — 

" En quia fata parant lacrymosos pandere casus, 
Gentem Marchisiam fratres abolere potentes 
Viderit Assanum, concludent castra Zenonis." 



THE FALL OF EZZELINO 325 

joined battle. The Milanese appeared in the rear, and 
prepared to cross the Adda in pursuit. Ezzelino still 
maintained order in his ranks, and might have cut his 
way through in spite of the overwhelming numbers of 
his adversaries, if it had not been for the sudden defec- 
tion of the Brescian cavalry. The nobles of this city had 
only allied themselves with him urged by dire neces- 
sity. His rule had not decreased their aversion to 
him, and now they saw a chance of freeing themselves 
from the yoke. They separated from the rest of the 
army, and marched off, unhindered by the Cremonese, 
to Brescia. 

This defection disheartened the remaining troops. 
Ezzelino still tried to maintain order, and to fight his 
way in the direction of Bergamo. But his ranks were 
broken, his best troops slain, and finally, after prodigies 
of valour, he was struck from his horse and made prisoner. 
The soldiers would have torn him to pieces, and one, 
whose brother had been mutilated by his orders, had 
already wounded him on the head with a reaping-hook ; 
but Pelavicini and the other leaders rescued him from 
their hands. 

He was brought to Pelavicini's tent, and treated with 
every consideration. But he refused food and medicine, 
rejected all the efforts of the monks to reconcile him with 
the Church, and, it is said, finally tore the bandages from 
his wounds, and so, after eleven days in captivity, died. 
He had reached his sixty-sixth year, and had ruled for 
twenty-three in Verona. 

In Ezzelino we have the first example of those tyrants 
such as a Bernabo Visconti or a Galeazzo Maria Sforza, 
the story of whose inhuman cruelties fills such a large 
part of the history of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. 
But to the thirteenth century, by which the full develop- 
ments of tyranny were unsuspected, he was a unique 
figure of horror ; and so among all Italian tyrants his 
name has a gloomy pre-eminence. A popular legend 
declared him to be the son of the devil. 

The most striking feature in his career is perhaps the 
contrast between his early years, when he appears as a 



326 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

valiant soldier and an upright if stern ruler, and his later 
life, when he became a monster of cruelty. As to the 
truth of the atrocities which he committed there can be 
no doubt. The Paduan writer Rolandino, not to mention 
others, gives us so many specific examples that we cannot 
believe them to be inventions. 

Leo propounds a curious theory to account for this 
change in his character. According to him it was 
Ezzelino's love of abstract justice, of order, his hatred of 
the anarchy of the time which led to all his excesses. He 
looked on himself as the representative of law, and he 
treated all who resisted him as rebels against the natural 
order of things. He broke down resistance to his will 
with a strong hand ; but cruelty only led to more resist- 
ance, until finally his hatred to all opposition became 
an overmastering impulse which led him to crush without 
mercy all whom he merely suspected of disaffection. 
To the trembling Paduans he compared himself to a 
father who wished to cleanse his house of scorpions, 
serpents, and all such noxious reptiles. And, according 
to one of the annalists he was wont to say, "The sins 
of the nations require a hand to chastise them, we 
are given to the world to exact vengeance for crime." 
But crime to him soon came to mean the smallest 
opposition to his political designs or his own personal 
desires. All feelings of humanity were extinguished 
by a wild rage against those who dared to resist his 
will. 

Yet perhaps it was merely the possession of unlimited 
power that was fatal to the balance of his character. He 
had many enemies on whom, when once in possession of 
Verona and Vicenza, he was able to take vengeance for 
injuries done him in the past. His power as representa- 
tive of the Emperor was practically absolute. He was 
able to punish opposition to himself as treason to the 
state. One deed of cruelty led on to another, until in the 
end the passion of cruelty overcame every other, and he 
became a virtual maniac possessed with a thirst for blood 
which ever called for new victims without ever being 
satiated. 



THE FALL OF EZZELINO 327 

The death of the dreaded tyrant caused unbounded 
rejoicings in the Mark. Verona recalled the Guelf exiles ; 
Belluno and Feltre set up their old form of government. 
Trent had already recovered its freedom. The men of 
Bassano formed themselves into a Commune under the 
suzerainty of Padua. In Vicenza the foreign garrison 
held their ground for some time, and even resisted an 
attack of the Paduans. But they soon saw their 
cause was desperate, and abandoned the city, which 
declared that the day on which its liberty had been 
restored should be kept as a perpetual feast. The 
Venetians joined in the general rejoicings, sounding all 
their bells, and illuminating their bell towers. 

Alberic soon found his position in Treviso untenable, 
and fled with his family and his treasures. He took 
refuge in the strong castle of San Zeno, near Asolo, 
which Ezzelino had chosen as a last retreat in case of 
disaster, and which he had striven by all the means in his 
power to make impregnable. Here, with a strong 
force of mercenaries, he hoped to be able to resist any 
attack. 

Alberic's rule in Treviso had been as tyrannical as that 
of his brother in the rest of the Mark. It is true that 
some contemporary writers only speak of his cruelties, 
" blinding children, and hanging monks and priests in 
their vestments," after his final breach with the Guelfs. 
But others tell us that he had previously exercised the 
same severities on the partisans of the Emperor in 
Treviso as Ezzelino had used against the supporters of 
the Church. Now he imprudently kept the attention of 
the Trevisans fixed on him by raids on their lands and 
on those of the men of Bassano. 

The Great Council of Treviso, after reciting his mis- 
deeds, passed the following atrocious sentence. Alberic 
and his sons, if ever they fell into the hands of the 
Trevisans, were to be dragged at the tails of horses 
and then hanged, his wife and daughters were to be 
burned alive. They then prepared to attack the castle. 
The Paduans, Vicentines, Veronese, the lesser towns of 
the Mark, even the Venetians, sent contingents, and 



328 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

the whole force was put under the command of the 
Marquis of Este. 

Alberic made a valiant defence. But his chief engineer, 
after a three months' siege, opened secret negotiations 
with the enemy, and corrupting some of the German 
garrison, admitted the assailants within the walls. Alberic, 
with his family and some faithful warriors, withdrew into 
the great central tower. Here he might still have de- 
fended himself were it not that water failed. His last 
action was worthy of a better man. He offered his own 
life to secure the safety of his family and followers. He 
trusted to his kinship and old friendship with Azzo of 
Este to gain this concession. But Azzo did nothing to 
check the popular fury which demanded the extirpation 
of the whole House of Romano. Alberic's followers 
went free, but his family found no mercy. 

His six sons, the youngest still in the cradle, were cut 
to pieces before his eyes, and their remains thrown in his 
face ; his wife and two beautiful daughters were led 
half naked round the camp, then horribly mutilated 
and finally burned alive. Alberic, last of all, after wit- 
nessing these atrocities, had his flesh torn with hooks, 
and then was tied to a horse's tail and dragged to 
death. 

Treviso, Vicenza, and Padua divided between them 
the lands and goods of the fallen house. One member of 
the family of Romano still survived. Cunizza, once the 
wife of Rizzardo di San Bonifazio, then famed for her 
many amorous adventures, long outlived the ruin of her 
house. She found a refuge with her mother's family the 
Counts Alberti of Mangona, in Tuscany, and with her 
kinsmen the Cavalcanti of Florence. Here she passed 
her closing years in prayer and works of charity, striving 
thus to atone for her early frailties and her brother's 
crimes. A curious document drawn up by her in 1265 
still survives, by which she frees all the serfs of her family 
in the Mark, for the salvation of her own soul and those 
of Ezzelino and Alberic, of her mother Adelaide, and of 
her father. As all the possessions of her house had been 
confiscated and the serfs set free this document must 



THE FALL OF EZZELINO 329 

only be meant as a sign of her forgiveness of those who 
had wronged her house. ^ 

The houses of the Cavalcanti were close to those of the 
Alighieri. The youthful Dante must often have seen in 
the church or in the streets, perhaps even within the 
home of the Cavalcanti, the aged figure of her whose 
name had once been on all men's lips. Her wonderful 
story, her later years of prayer and penance, the over- 
throw of her house touched his youthful imagination. 
He meets her spirit, in his Vision, among the blessed in 
the sphere of Venus — 

" Cunizza f ui chiamata, e qui rif ulgo 
Perche mi vinse il lume d'esta stella. 
Ma lietamente a me medesma indulge 

La cagion di mia sorte, e non mi noia, 
Che forse parria forte al vostro vulgo."^ 

Thus she sings, in a passage which has much disturbed 
the commentators. 

A later poet has been attracted by the tale which links 
her name with that of the poet Sordello of Mantua, the 
" anima lombarda . . . altera e disdegnosa." Browning, 
for metrical reasons, has altered her name to Palma, a 
name really borne by two of her sisters.3 But Browning's 
poem, " Sordello," though some light is thrown on its 
obscurities by a knowledge of the history of the Mark, 
pays scant heed to the real history of the time of which 
it treats, and still less to the real characters of the figures 
which pass across its pages. 

For a moment a new era of peace and union seemed 
about to dawn on the Mark. Verona, Vicenza, Padua, 

' It is true that she gives over the souls of those who had 
betrayed San Zenone "to all the devils." 

^ Dante, " Par.," Canto IX. 

3 The other children of Ezzelino the Monk were Agnese, married 
to a Guidotti, and mother of the cruel Ansedisio ; Palma, who died 
young ; Palma Novella, wife of Alberto da Baone ; Emilia, or Imia, 
who married into the Conti, and whose goods were confiscated after 
her death by the Inquisition ; Sofia, married first to Enrico di Egna, 
and mother by him of another of Ezzelino's cruel ministers, and 
then to Salinguerra. 



330 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

and Treviso made a solemn league for the preservation 
of freedom and concord. But these pacific dispositions 
did not last. Internal peace only lasted three months in 
Verona. Then the popular aversion to the House of San 
Bonifazio broke out again ; the young Count and his 
party were expelled, and Verona, under the leadership of 
Mastino della Scala, returned definitely to the Ghibelline 
party.i 

The town of Bassano had been allowed to choose 
whether it would place itself under Vicenza or Padua. It 
chose the latter, reserving its local independence. At the 
same time the Paduans added to their territory the strip 
of land, reaching north to Bassano, between the Trevisan 
border and the left bank of the Brenta. This district, 
mostly owned by the House of Romano, had formed part 
of the Contado of Vicenza : hence arose new discord 
between that city and Padua. 

The Brescian Ghibellines had dedicated a church to 
St. Francis, as a thanksgiving for Ezzelino's overthrow. 
But they refused to readmit the Guelf exiles, and gave the 
lordship of the city to Pelavicini, who repressed with the 
strong hand all efforts of the exiles to drive him out. 
The prisons of Cremona were soon filled with Brescian 
Guelfs captured in arms, or suspected of plotting against 
his rule. For a moment there seemed to be a chance of 
peace between the two factions in Central Lombardy. 
The Pope was ready to free Pelavicini, Buoso, and the 
Cremonese from excommunication if they would give up 
their alliance with Manfred. This they refused to do ; 
and Pelavicini stepped into Ezzelino's place as the leader 
of the party in Lombardy hostile to the Church. On the 
other hand, the Guelf party in Milan began to show them- 
selves restive to the Papal authority, and came to an 
understanding with Pelavicini, which, for a time, put an 
end to nearly all hostilities between the Milanese and 
their neighbours. 

Returning now to the affairs of Central Lombardy, we 
find the chief events of the years between the death 

' San Bonifazio was readmitted, but was expelled again in 1263, 
this time for ever. 



THE FALL OF EZZELINO 331 

of Frederick IL and the coming of Charles of Anjou 
bound up with the career of the Ghibelline leader Oberto 
Pelavicini. His timely defection from the side of Ezzelino 
not only saved him from the ruin which fell on the 
House of Romano, but materially added to his power, 
by bringing under his rule the important city of Brescia, 
where, as we have seen, internal factions had put an end 
to the traditional supremacy of the Guelfs. In 1258 he 
had come into possession of Crema ; and though in 
the previous year he had been expelled from Piacenza, the 
Guelf cities of Ferrara, Mantua, and Padua had bound 
themselves, as the price of his assistance against the 
tyrant of Verona, to aid him to recover his power there, 
an enterprise in which he succeeded in 1261. 

The career of Pelavicini gives us one of the best 
examples of the opportunities for gratifying personal 
ambition which the disturbed state of Italy offered to 
men of exceptional capacities. 

A younger son of a powerful feudal family seated 
on the confines of Parma and Piacenza, Oberto first 
appears in Parma, so poor that he rode habitually a 
broken-down horse. He was weak of body, thin, and 
had lost one eye in infancy. Such, however, was his 
political sagacity and his capability as a party leader, 
that he was chosen Podesta of several cities, and so 
succeeded in working on public opinion that Cremona 
and then Piacenza and other important towns prolonged 
his tenure of this office first for a series of years, and 
then in some cases for life. A Ghibelline by conviction, 
the Hohenstaufen aided his career, and his own efforts 
and successes soon made him to be looked on as the 
leader of that party in Central Lombardy. He had, 
we are told, "an appetite for rule above that of all 
other men " ; and we are also told that wherever he ruled 
he favoured the heretics Patarini, Paulicians, and others 
of which Lombardy was then full. His career, due 
apparently not so much to prowess in arms as to skill 
in politics, marks him out as a forerunner of the despots 
of the fifteenth century — men such as some of the later 
Visconti and Sforza, who from the recesses of their 



332 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

palaces directed great armies land added city after city 
to their dominions, without ever appearing themselves 
in the field. 

Such was the man whom an unexpected turn of affairs 
enabled not only to figure as the head of the Lombard 
Ghibellines, but also to appear for a time as ruler of 
the Guelf democratic party in Milan. 

In this city, which the pressure of external war had 
kept in internal peace during a long period, the old 
quarrel between nobles and people broke out afresh 
in 1252. A temporary peace was patched up by entrust- 
ing, for three years in succession, the office of Podesta 
to the Marquis Manfred Lancia of Incisa, who succeeded 
in preserving tranquillity until 1256. On the expiration 
of his office the feud broke out anew, and was embittered 
by the murder of one of the people by a nobleman 
who was his debtor.^ 

The nobles, driven from the city, prevailed as usual 
in the open country, where their heavy armed cavalry 
easily broke the ranks of the more poorly equipped 
foot-soldiers of the popular party. 

In all the struggles between classes in the Lombard 
cities the popular party had drawn to their side some 
of the noble families, who either sympathised with 
their claims or saw that the prestige of their rank 
and riches would infallibly lead the mass of the 
citizens to entrust them with the supreme direction 
of affairs. After the disastrous battle of Cortenuova, 
when the people of Bergamo suddenly changing sides 
had fallen upon the Milanese fugitives, the latter had 
been succoured, as we have seen, by a feudal lord, 
Pagano della Torre, who owned wide possessions in 
the Valsassina. 

Popular gratitude for this had thenceforth given the 

' The nobles had preserved the right of being absolved from the 
murder of an artisan on payment of 7 lire 12 denarii (Leo, vol. iii. 
p. 204). The mass of the people were exasperated beyond measure 
by the heavy taxation rendered necessary by the war against 
Frederick II., which continued to be levied for some years after 
his death, in order to pay off the debts which the Commune had 
increased in the struggles. 



THE FALL OF EZZELINO 333 

family a position of great influence in Milan, and now 
its head, Martino della Torre, appears as leader of the 
people against the nobles.^ 

Repeated conflicts, expulsions of the nobles, and 
attempts at pacification make up the history of the 
next few years. 

In Como similar conditions prevailed, and we find 
the people, headed by the Vitani, in violent opposition 
to the nobles under the Rusconi. 

At length, in 1258, three months after a last and 
solemn pacification, known as the Peace of St. Ambrose,^ 
the nobles withdrew once more from Milan, and sought 
help from the Rusconi and the neighbouring Ghibelline 
cities. In a battle near Como the popular party obtained 
a complete victory ; the Rusconi were expelled from 
Como, and the Milanese nobles were forced to sue 
for peace. A treacherous attack, during the negotiations, 
on the unsuspecting popular party gave the nobles 
once more the upper hand ; but in 1259 all was again 
in confusion, and the nobles adopted the desperate 
plan of calling in Ezzelino to their aid. It has already 
been told how nearly he obtained possession of Milan. 
On his final overthrow, however, the nobles found 
themselves openly on the side of the Ghibellines, and 
shut out from any hope of reconciliation with the 
populace. 

Delia Torre, on the other hand, had utilised the 
struggle to get himself chosen as " Ancient of the 
People " and virtual ruler of the city for a term of 
years. To this he added in 1259 the lordship over 
Lodi ; while Como under the Vitani was devoted to 
his interests. 

The nobles, however, were still dangerous, entrenched 
as they were in their castles, and likely to be helped 
by the Ghibelline cities. Martino therefore hit on the 
daring plan of gaining over Pelavicini to his interests. 
Accordingly he caused the latter to be proclaimed in 

' The Archbishop led the nobles. 

* By this peace all offices of the state, down to that of trumpeter, 
were to be equally divided amongst the nobles and the popolo. 



334 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

1259 as Captain-General of Milan for a term of five 
years. 

Milan now appears as holding a middle position 
neither Guelf nor Ghibelline ; and, by a curious irony 
of fate, very soon came into conflict with the Pope, 
who desired a pacification with the expelled nobles, 
and who detested Pelavicini as a supporter of heresy.^ 
Oberto's power now reached its highest point. Brescia, 
Crema, Pavia, and Vercelli were directly subject to him.^ 
He recovered Piacenza in 1261 ; he ruled also in Tortona 
and Alessandria. His compact with Delia Torre gave 
him control not only of Milan but of its allies Como,3 
Lodi, and Novara, while the Ghibellines of Bergamo, 
Parma, Reggio, and Modena looked on him as their 
natural head. Finally, in the great Ghibelline stronghold, 
Cremona, he, as Podesta of the Commune, shared 
the government with the Podesta of the Mercadanza, 
Buoso da Doara. In other words, he seemed virtually 
master of the whole of Central Lombardy. 

Such a rapid rise was followed, however, by a still more 
striking downfall. 

The Torriani profited by Oberto's aid still farther to 
strengthen their position. The power of the banished 
nobles was broken by the capture of nine hundred of 
them in the castle of Tabiago ; and many leading noble 
families had accepted the new condition of affairs in 
Milan. Martino della Torre, and his brother Filippo, 
who succeeded him in 1263 as head of the family, now 
felt strong enough to maintain themselves without 
Oberto's help. In 1263 Oberto's term as Signore in 
Novara expired, and Martino was chosen in his stead. 
In the next year Filippo was recognised as Signore of 
Lodi, Como, Bergamo, and Vercelli ; and Pelavicini, on 

' Wherever Oberto ruled he encouraged the heretics. No less 
than fifteen different sects of heretics were to be found in Milan 
and its territory in the middle of the thirteenth century (Lanzani). 

'^ Pavia seems to have been in a more independent position 
towards him than the other Ghibelline cities ; at least after 1257. 

3 In 1259 Martino della Torre was made Podesta of Como for 
five years (Salzer, p. 53). 



THE FALL OF EZZELINO 335 

the expiration of his term of office in Milan, saw himself 
shut out, apparently without the possibility of making 
any effectual opposition, from these towns and from 
Milan itself. His rule was now restricted to the definitely 
Ghibelline cities, in which he maintained himself in 
open opposition to the Torriani until the coming of 
Charles of Anjou. 

The party of the nobles had in the meantime received 
an unexpected addition of strength. Two years before 
the beginning of the joint rule of Delia Torre and 
Pelavicini in Milan, the archiepiscopal see in that city 
had become vacant. Factions among the clergy, and 
then Oberto's intrigues, prevented the election of a 
successor until the Pope, in 1262, himself filled up the 
vacancy by appointing Otto Visconti, a member of a 
noble family owning great estates around the lower 
end of Lago Maggiore. 

The Visconti, henceforth so closely bound up with the 
history of Milan, seem, in the days when the city was still 
governed by the Archbishops, to have come into posses- 
sion of the hereditary viscountship of the city, an office 
which possessed a very extensive jurisdiction over the 
artisan classes. This post brought great ^vealth and 
influence over the lower orders to the family. 

Both Martino and Oberto refused to recognise the 
new Archbishop, who thereupon naturally joined him- 
self to the nobles, to whose party he belonged by birth, 
and who adopted him as their leader. 

The rulers of Milan seized the lands and castles of the 
Archbishop, and the Pope in reply placed the city under 
an interdict. Hence, an illustration of the confusion of 
parties in Italy, we find the professedly Guelf party of 
the Torriani allied with the leader of the Lombard Ghibel- 
lines and under the ban of the Church, while the avowed 
Milanese Ghibellines were supported by the Pope and 
headed by his Archbishop of Milan. 

The renewed attacks of the nobles met with no success, 
even when Pelavicini, breaking with the Torriani in 
1264, had allied himself with them. The Delia Torre 
strengthened themselves by handing over the Signoria 



336 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

of Milan, in name at least, to Charles of Anjou, who 
was beginning to be looked on as the champion of the 
Papal party in Italy, and received from him a Proven9al 
Podesta and a body of French troops. 

Parties in Lombardy once more permit of a sharp 
definition: on one side the Guelf headed as of old by 
Milan, under the rule of the Delia Torre ; on the other, 
the Ghibelline cities grouped round Cremona, which was 
jointly governed by Oberto Pelavicini and Buoso da 
Doara. 

During the years of which we have been treating the 
Papacy had been engaged in an unrelenting warfare against 
the surviving members of the House of Hohenstaufen ; 
first against Conrad, who succeeded his father as German 
King and in the kingdom of Naples, and after Conrad's 
death,! against Manfred, the youngest son of Frederick II., 
who ruled Naples as regent for the infant son of Conrad, 
and then, on a false rumour of his death, as sovereign. 
In spite of all the efforts of the Popes during the next 
ten years Manfred not only held his ground in his 
kingdom, but extended his power over a large part of 
Central Italy. The Pope finally realised that the only 
means of crushing him lay in calling to his aid a foreign 
prince who should receive as a reward the crown, 
which the Church party held had been forfeited by the 
Hohenstaufens. 

After protracted negotiations the Papal offers were 
accepted by the Count of Provence, Charles of Anjou, 
brother of St. Louis of France, who prepared a large 
army of Frenchmen and Provengals with which to expel 
from Naples and Sicily their actual ruler. News of 
Charles's preparations excited the factions of Lombardy 
to renewed activity. The Guelfs of Modena, aided by 
those of Ferrara and Mantua, expelled the opposite 
faction from their city. Then they proceeded to Reggio, 
where for some years both parties had lived in peace 
together,^ and attacked one of the gates. 

'^ In 1254 (Leo). 

^ The Guelf party apparently obtained the chief power in Reggio 
in or about 1257. A Bolognese was Podesta in 1258. 



THE FALL OF EZZELINO 337 

Aided by the Guelfs of Reggio, the noble families of 
Fogliani and Roberti, they forced their way in, and after 
hard fighting expelled the opposite party, the noble family 
of Sessi and their supporters. News of these events threw 
Parma also into confusion. There both parties had united 
in 1259 to expel Ghiberto da Gente, who had ruled for 
six years in the Ghibelline interest. Now the Guelfs 
rose, and, after fierce street fighting, gained the upper 
hand. Two Podestas were appointed, one for each 
faction, a compromise which ended, in 1266, in the total 
expulsion of the Ghibellines.i 

On the other hand Oberto Pelavicini and Buoso da 
Doara made preparations to oppose the passage of 
Charles's army. 

In 1265 Charles with part of his forces proceeded by 
sea to Rome ; the main body of his army advanced by 
land. Six years before several of the smaller towns of 
Piedmont, Alba, Chierasco, Cuneo, and others, beset by 
powerful feudal lords, had sought protection for them- 
selves by choosing Charles as their lord. In this way his 
army had a free passage across the frontier passes. The 
Marquis William of Montferrat, whom we are destined to 
meet again in the course of this history, and who had 
previously been reckoned among Manfred's supporters, 
now appeared on the side of Charles, and the support of 
Asti and Turin opened all these regions to the invaders. 

The shortest route for the French army from Pied- 
mont to Rome would have been that across the 
Apennines and through Tuscany. But Tuscany was 
entirely in the hands of the Ghibellines under the 
vigorous leadership of Pisa and Siena ; and Charles's 
generals decided to march straight across Lombardy, 
and, avoiding Tuscany, to proceed by way of Bologna 
and Romagna into Umbria. 

' Parma had been under Ghiberto da Gente from 1253 to 1259. 
He gained power as a mediator between the two factions, and 
recalled the Ghibellines who had been in exile since 1247. He 
ruled, however, in the Ghibelline /interest. After his expulsion the 
city was in a very disturbed state. Oberto Pelavinci became 
Podesta in 1263, but his efforts to gain the lordship of Parma 
failed. 

22 



338 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

The Ghibelline cities, however, formed a solid line 
across the centre of Lombardy ; Pavia, Piacenza, and 
Tortona on the left resting on the Apennines, Cremona, 
and apparently Crema, in the centre, and on the right 
Brescia and Verona, whose territories ran up to the High 
Alps. It seemed possible for the Ghibellines, entrenched 
behind the innumerable rivers of Central Lombardy, if 
not to prevent, at least seriously to delay the progress of 
the invading army. 

, The French, having stormed Vercelli on their way, 
advanced through the territory of Milan. Oberto and 
Buoso drew out their forces, and posted themselves at 
Soncino, to prevent the passage of the Oglio. But the 
Ghibellines confined themselves to the defensive — it is 
said by the treacherous advice of Buoso, corrupted by 
French gold — until the lords of Este and San Bonifazio 
had collected in their rear the forces of the Guelfs of 
Ferrara and Mantua. Then the French, by a sudden 
movement, crossed the Oglio unopposed at a point 
higher up — Buoso gets the credit of having acted 
treacherously here also — and passing under the walls 
of Brescia, into which town they shot arrows as they 
passed, they advanced in Oberto's rear, to join the forces 
of Mantua and Ferrara. Many strong fortresses were 
stormed by them, and Oberto was glad to escape 
unattacked into Cremona. 

The decisive battle of Benevento, and Manfred's defeat 
and death, lie outside our scope. But the passage of 
Charles's army brought about the final overthrow of 
Oberto. 

Brescia, from of old inclined to the Guelfs, had long 
been weary of the Ghibelline rule. More than one 
conspiracy against Oberto had been discovered and 
repressed with severity. Now, however, when Oberto 
had been forced to weaken his garrison, the townsmen 
rose, and, having expelled his supporters, chose Napo- 
leone della Torre, then head of his house, for their lord. 

Oberto now directed all his efforts to maintain him- 
self in Piacenza and Cremona. He withdrew his forces 
from Alessandria, where, since 1262, he had, with the 




PlACENZA. 

Cathedral. 



To face page 339, 



THE FALL OF EZZELINO 339 

support of the Ghibelline faction of the Lanzavecchi, 
ruled as custos, or miHtary governor. The opposite 
party, the Pozzi, were recalled from exile, and both 
factions seem to have lived in more or less tranquillity, 
tempered with street fighting, until in 1270 the city 
sought to attain to a more peaceful state of affairs by 
conferring the hereditary lordship on Charles of Anjou. 
At the same time Oberto handed over Tortona to the 
Pavesans, who only held it for a year. 

In Cremona, where for several years Buoso and Oberto 
had shared the chief power, the former, irritated by some 
secret negotiations of the latter with the Roman court, 
conspired against his colleague and expelled him from 
the city. Piacenza alone now remained in Oberto's 
possession, and even here he was unable to maintain 
himself against the intrigues of the Papal party. He fell 
almost without a struggle in the next year, and it was 
said that he used to express his wonder how one priest 
by his soft words had deprived him of his dominion. 

Driven from all the cities which had once obeyed him, 
he maintained himself for a few years longer in his 
castles, until his death in 1269.'^ The family, which in 
later times altered its name to Pallavicino, remained until 
the eighteenth century in possession of a small territory 
round Busseto, between the territories of Parma, Piacenza, 
and Cremona, as immediate vassals of the Empire. 

Buoso did not long enjoy the fruit of his treachery. 
In 1267 he was expelled from Cremona, with, it is said, 
10,000 Ghibellines, his partisans, and spent the rest of 
his life as a wandering and indigent soldier of fortune. 

His grandfather 2 had conducted negotiations with 
Frederick Barbarossa as one of the Rectors of the 
Lombard League ; the memory of the son lasts to our 
own day, chiefly through the biting lines of Dante, who 
met him among the traitors in hell. 

3 " La dove i peccatori stanno freschi." 

' He is said to have been reconciled to the Church on his 
deathbed. 
= Leo and others say his father, but this scarcely seems possible. 
3 " Inferno," Canto XXXH. 



340 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

Piacenza and Cremona now appear on the side of the 
Guelfs ; and at about this time the Delia Torre, by the 
mediation of Charles of Anjou, made their peace with 
the Pope, Otto Visconti was recognised as Archbishop, 
the possessions of his see given up to him, and Milan 
was freed from all ecclesiastical censures. In all Lom- 
bardy only Pavia and Verona remained faithful to the 
Ghibelline cause. To still more strengthen the Guelfs 
a new league was formed in 1267 which embraced nearly 
every city of Lombardy and the Trevisan Mark. The 
Ghibelline power seemed broken for ever. 



CHAPTER XII 

GUELFS AND GHIBELLINES AND THE RISE OF 
THE POPOLO 

One of the most curious features in the story of medieval 
Italy is the constant vicissitudes of fortune which, without 
any apparent cause, suddenly alter the whole political 
balance of the country. No sooner does one party 
appear lost beyond recovery, than it seems to gather new 
force from its very overthrow, rapidly regains the ground 
it had lost, and in its turn tastes the sweets of success, to 
fall once more and rise again in endless alternations. 
Before ten years have elapsed from the conclusion of 
the new Guelf league we shall find the Ghibelline party 
once more vigorous, if not triumphant, in Lombardy. 

We may find the explanation of the instability of 
Italian politics in the fact that the victorious faction 
invariably ruled on party lines, expelling their opponents 
wholesale, seizing their goods, and admitting of no lasting 
compromise with their adversaries. Such a government 
was naturally displeasing to the more moderate spirits, 
who preferred the good of the city to party interests ; a 
large number of the citizens saw themselves permanently 
shut out from all share in the offices and honours of the 
state ; and the mass of the people might justly complain 
that affairs were managed, not in the interests of all, but 
merely in those of the dominant faction. Moreover, the 
party in power in all ages manages to offend many who at 
one time have been favourably disposed towards it ; it is 
blamed for disasters which may occur abroad, and for 
heavy taxation which it may have had to impose at home, 
and so a discontented party naturally grows up. The 

341 



342 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

example of England, where during the nineteenth century 
Liberals and Conservatives have practically alternated 
with every new Parliament, shows this clearly ; the 
difference is that in medieval Italy street fighting, the 
firing of houses, and the expulsion en masse of the 
beaten side took the place of the more peaceful ballot- 
boxes of our own day. 

Even in towns such as Milan and Piacenza, where the 
parties were closely bound up with the struggle of class 
against class, we find this shifting of the balance from 
one side to the other. It will help to explain this if we 
remember that the term " people " in medieval Italy as 
a rule only includes what we would call the middle 
classes ; the artisans, no doubt the mass of the population, 
were nearly entirely shut out from even the most demo- 
cratic governments. Hence their support might well be 
given at one time to the nobles, at another to the popolo; 
and so the balance of parties be maintained fairly even. 

In some Communes, it is true, where the Guelfs and 
Ghibellines represented class interests, we find compara- 
tive stability. Thus in Milan the popular party, headed 
by the Torriani, ruled at first for about twenty years, and 
then the Visconti held the city for twenty-five years, ruling 
as Ghibellines, at the head of the nobles. We notice this 
stability especially in cities situated in the open plain. 
Yet the chronicler of Asti tells how more than five times 
in his own lifetime he had seen the nobles expelled from 
Pavia. 

In the towns whose territories lay mostly in the hill 
country the changes are exceptionally violent and be- 
wildering. Como was in an almost perpetual state of 
confusion between 1250 and 1310 ; and the coming to 
Italy in that year of the new Emperor Henry VII. did not 
restore peace. The chronicler of Asti declares that seven 
times one faction in Alessandria had expelled the other. 
Asti itself was in but a little better condition at the open- 
ing of the fourteenth century. 

In general, the most frequent and sudden changes of 
fortune occur in the cities where the parties had their 
origin in quarrels among the nobles. The factions fought 



GUELFS AND GHIBELLINES 343 

one another from the towers of their palaces, or in the 
streets or squares below, until one party drove out the 
other ; the mass of the people, meanwhile, " sat quietly 
at their looms, or at other employments, and worked 
away as if nothing was the matter." ^ This was the case 
at Parma at first. It was also the case at Asti, and 
apparently at Bergamo, as well as in Modena and Reggio, 
and in most of the cities of Romagna. 

The beaten faction left the city and retired to their 
castles in the Contado. The victors seized on the govern- 
ment of the Commune, but could not, as a rule, follow up 
their enemies outside the walls ; for where the mass of 
the people were indifferent the rulers dared not demand 
from them any unusual military service, or impose any 
increased taxation. Meanwhile the exiles from their 
castles infested the open country, interfered with the 
trade of the peaceful citizens, or ravaged the lands from 
which they drew their food supplies. The sufferers, 
driven to action, forced the governing faction to patch 
up a peace ; or the efforts of the clergy — the Franciscans 
especially seem to have been active as peacemakers — 
brought about a temporary reconciliation. The exiles 
were recalled ; their palaces re-built ; often marriages 
were arranged between the leading families on both 
sides ; and matters settled down for a short period, 
often only for a few months, until another explosion 
led to more fighting, house burning, and wholesale 
expulsions. Sometimes the exiles would gain a great 
victory in the open country and march on the city. 
Partisans inside would open the gates ; the mob scent- 
ing plunder would rise to welcome their return, and 
the party which lately had ruled now saw their houses 
stormed and plundered, and fled in their turn to their 
castles, to recommence hostilities from thence, and so on 
da capo. Or, if the exiled faction did not succeed in re- 
entering the city, they seized on a great part of the 
Contado. Thus the valley of the Taro and the foot-hills 
of the Apennines in the territory of Piacenza were almost 
permanently in the power of the Ghibellines of Piacenza 

' Salzer, p, 109, fr. Fra Salimbene. 



344 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

for a quarter of a century after the expulsion of Oberto 
Pelavicini. The Sessi and their followers, driven from 
Reggio in 1270, the Grasulfi, expelled from Modena in 
1264, held their ground among the mountains, where, 
even in times of the fullest internal peace, the Communes 
found it hard to maintain their authority over the feudal 
lords whose castles crowned every crag. 

In the territory of Modena the Ghibellines held some 
of the mountain strongholds for twenty years. Then the 
Guelf nobles began to fight amongst themselves. The 
extreme Guelf party expelled the Moderates, who seized 
on the castles of Savignano and Sassuolo on the edge of 
the plain, and set up a regular government there, with a 
Podesta of their own. Joined by the Ghibelline exiles 
they harassed the city. The exiles from Reggio made 
common cause with them. A great victory in 1288 over 
the ruling faction of Reggio led to the readmission of the 
exiles to both cities. But discord continued. To secure 
peace the Modanese gave themselves to the Marquis of 
Este in 1288. Next year the Ghibellines of Reggio, who 
after months of tumult had expelled the Guelfs, followed 
the example of Modena. Peace at home was only secured 
by the loss of freedom. 

The internal history of Brescia offers a good example 
of the vicissitudes of the parties. Although the Guelf 
exiles of the popular party had fought under Oberto 
Pelavicini against Ezzelino, he would not restore them 
to their homes when he gained possession of Brescia in 
1260. Pelavicini, in the five years during which he ruled, 
became obnoxious to many of those who had formerly 
supported him. His overthrow in 1265 was brought 
about by a union between the nobles and people, and as 
a result the exiles were readmitted, and Guelfs and 
Ghibellines were solemnly reconciled. Up to now the 
nobles had almost all been Ghibellines, in opposition to 
the Guelf popolo. But now many of the leading nobles 
had gone over to the Guelf side ; and for a long period 
we hear of no more dissensions between nobles and 
popolo. The Guelf party, strengthened by the adhesion 
of so many nobles, expelled the Ghibellines in 1268. The 



GUELFS AND GHIBELLINES 345 

Ghibellines maintained themselves in the open country, 
and so harassed the city that King Charles of Naples was 
made lord for six years so as to put a stop to the factions. 

Not until 1272 did a Papal legate succeed in reconcil- 
ing the adversaries. But he accomplished his work well, 
and for twenty-three years the city had peace within, 
while in outside affairs it at first supports the Delia Torre 
and the Guelf cities, then is found allied with Cremona, 
Piacenza, and Visconti, forming a moderate party between 
the violent Guelfs and Ghibellines. 

Internal discord broke out afresh in 1295. There were 
now four parties among the nobles — Guelfs, Ghibellines, 
Griffi, and Bardelli. The Griffi had been the leading 
Ghibelline family ; now, with some other nobles, they 
formed a faction apart. A fifth party, a popular Guelf one, 
then appears on the scene, and takes the name of Ferioli. 
The Guelfs, properly so called, who numbered twenty- 
four noble families, expelled the other four factions. The 
usual warfare began in the Contado, until to secure peace 
the lordship of the city was given to the Bishop Maggi 
for five years, and the exiles were readmitted. The 
Maggi were among the leading Guelfs, but the Bishop, to 
secure his power, turned on some of his former allies. 
He expelled the Guelf Brusati as well as the Griffi, and 
ruled till his death in 1308. The Emperor Henry VII. 
restored the exiles. The result was a fierce fight within 
the city, between the Maggi, now definitely Ghibelline, 
and the Brusati, who were aided by the people. The 
latter won, and one of the Brusati was made Signore. 
The Emperor came again, this time to restore the 
Ghibellines. This he only succeeded in doing after a 
desperate siege. 

No sooner had he gone when the parties were once 
more at one another's throats. The Maggi, helped by the 
Ghibellines of Bergamo and Cremona, won, and again 
expelled the Brusati. The latter joined the Guelf exiles 
of Cremona, captured that city, and then seized on nearly 
all the hilly part of the Contado of Brescia, as well as a 
large part of the plain. This was in 121 2, and in 1 213 the 
city was in such straits that the Ghibellines were forced 



346 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

to readmit the exiles. Marriages were made between the 
noble houses of either party to secure a permanent peace ; 
but two years later the Ghibellines began again to harass 
their opponents. This time it was the Guelfs who won 
and expelled the Ghibellines. War ensued all over the 
Contado. The exiles, helped by Can Grande della Scala, 
won a considerable victory ; this, however, was followed 
by a disastrous overthrow in which they lost most of their 
infantry. But, secure in their castles, they held their 
ground so well that the Guelfs were forced to call King 
Robert of Naples to their aid, and to give him the lord- 
ship of the city. His troops cleared most of the Contado 
of Ghibellines, and for a time the city enjoyed peace, 
though the Ghibellines were by no means annihilated. 
Rather, after a few years, they reappear almost as active 
as before. Brescia, like her sister Communes, only found 
peace under the rule of a despot. 

Opposed to the Commune we regularly find "the exiles 
of the Commune" forming an organised political body 
under an elected war captain, and in close alliance with 
other Communes, or other groups of exiles of their own 
party. Within the city the government has frankly 
become that of a faction. We find in treaties and other 
public documents expressions such as "The Commune of 
Cremona, namely, the party of the Barbarasi,i which now 
is the Commune of Cremona and rules the Commune of 
Cremona." The Podesta of Verona, in 1 271, no longer 
swears to serve the Commune, but "those who now hold 
and rule Verona." The " pars intrinseca " stands in per- 
petual opposition to the "pars extrinseca," or "forenses," 
in the annals and in the official documents of the time. 

The fury of faction increased as time went on. We 
note a marked development of cruelty. Ezzelino had 
shocked his age ; the succeeding generation gives us 
numberless instances of atrocities which rival his worst 
crimes. A Ghibelline outbreak at Mantua in 1268 spared 
neither age nor sex. " Women were dragged to the scaf- 
fold pell-mell with children." Four years later " neither 
innocent children nor feeble old men were spared ; virgins 

' Salzer, p. 20, The Barbaras! were the Ghibellines of Cremona. 




Verona. 
Palazzo della Ragione. 



page 346. 



GUELFS AND GHIBELLINES 347 

were burned alive." It was feared that the city would 
remain empty of inhabitants, as it had already been 
reduced almost to a heap of ruins. 

We read of wholesale massacres of rival families, often 
under circumstances of revolting treachery. Dante holds 
up to infamy the Bishop of Feltre, who gave up the 
Ghibelline exiles of Ferrara to the vengeance of their 
enemies. The tragic fate of Count Ugolino and his family 
in the " Hunger Tower " at Pisa has been immortalised 
in the " Inferno." 

The vanquished party was driven out en masse, their 
houses destroyed, their property confiscated. Twelve 
thousand persons were expelled from Bologna in 1274, 
ten thousand from Cremona in 1266. When the Floren- 
tine Guelfs split in the early fourteenth century we hear 
of four thousand Guelf exiles able to bear arms taking 
advantage of an amnesty on one occasion. Whole cities 
were destroyed, and the inhabitants massacred or driven 
into exile. Such was the fate of Camerino in 1261 ; of 
Sinigaglia four years previously. The provinces of Central 
Italy were the theatre of the worst excesses ; but the 
annals of Lombardy show a marked growth of ferocity. 
The Ghibelline exiles of Modena, forced to surrender in 
the castle of Monte Valario, were all put to death in cold 
blood. The Ghibellines of Vercelli carried off by surprise 
the Podesta Paganino della Torre, who was then handed 
over to the exiled Milanese nobles, who killed him. In 
revenge, fifty-two nobles, captives at Milan, were slain by 
the Podesta of that city. Conspiracies against the ruling 
party were ruthlessly suppressed ; torture and mutilation 
were the common accompaniment of the death penalty.^ 
When the Bolognese captured twenty exiles in the castle 
of Samodia in 1292 they beheaded two or three every 
day, until all had perished. The members of the family 
of the Lupi, captured by their fellow-citizens at Canulo in 
1308, were hanged. When the Lambertazzi were defi- 
nitely expelled from Bologna in 1306, the boys cut the 

' As in the case of the Abbot of Vallombrosa, tortured and executed 
by the Guelfs of Florence on the charge of being implicated in a 
Ghibelline plot. For this the city was put under an interdict. 



348 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

bodies of the slain into bits, and carried them on hooks 
to their houses. 

The factions made even the commonest acts of life 
symbolical of their mutual detestation. " Flags, colours, 
the fruits of the earth, the manner of walking, of cracking 
the fingers, of yawning, all became party signs. The 
inhabitants of Bergamo murdered some strangers from 
Calabria in their sleep, because they had cut garlic in a 
fashion which was used by the faction opposed to that 
ruling in the city. Ghibellines wore their plumes on the 
left, Guelfs on the right ; Ghibellines raised the first finger, 
Guelfs the thumb, when taking an oath ; the former cut 
apples across, the latter perpendicularly ; the Ghibellines 
drank from plain, the Guelfs from chiselled cups ; where 
Guelfs wore red roses their opponents wore white." In 
their houses and their dress the same opposition was 
maintained. Ghibelline fortresses had swallow-tailed 
battlements, Guelf square. The climax was reached 
when the soldiers of Milan in the fifteenth century tore 
the figure of Christ from the cross in the Duomo of 
Crema " because it inclined the head to the Guelf side.''^ 

To strengthen itself by securing internal discipline, each 
party in the Commune gave itself a head invested with 
almost despotic power. Here we have the germ from 
which arose the tyrants who destroyed the republican 
freedom of the cities. The family which supplied the 
leader — sometimes that house from whose private feuds 
the internal dissensions had arisen, sometimes one which 
had come into prominence during the struggle — gives its 
name to its party. The Guelfs and Ghibellines in each 
Commune are personified by the names of two rival 
houses. So we have the Lambertazzi and the Geremei in 
Bologna; the Acarisi and Manfredi in Faenza; the Fog- 
liani and the Sessi in Reggio ; the Fisiraga and Vistarini 
in Lodi, drawing the whole city after them in their feuds, 
and ranging themselves under the banner of Church or 
Empire. The noble house of the Torriani come forward 
to head the people of Milan against the nobles, who are 
forced in self-defence to become Ghibellines, and put at 
' Symonds, " Renaissance in Italy." 



GUELFS AND GHIBELLINES 349 

their head the Archbishop Otto Visconti. In Pavia the 
Count of Langusco heads the Guelf nobles ; the Ghibel- 
line popolo find leaders in the Beccheria. The Rusconi 
represent the nobles in Como ; the Vitani, allies of the 
Delia Torre, lead the people. After many vicissitudes the 
factions of Piacenza range themselves under the banners 
of the Landi and the Scotti ; those of Brescia under the 
Brusati and the Maggi ; those of Bergamo under the 
Soardi and Coleoni. 

Guelfs and Ghibellines are in every city, but in many 
they bear local names. In Cremona the Guelfs, who 
seem to appear for the first time in 1249, took the name 
of Capelletti ^ ; their opponents were known as the Bar- 
barasi or Troncaciuffi, names that at once recall the 
Roundheads and the Croppies of English and Irish 
history. The Ghibelline nobles of Brescia were known 
as the Malisardi ; the Guelfs of Modena as the Aigoni. 
In Genoa the Rampini, in Milan the Malisardi, were 
Guelfs. The Genoese Ghibellines were called Mascherati. 
In Reggio there were the parties " Above the Street" and 
"Below the Street," the former being the extreme Guelfs. 
The Ghibellines of Pavia were called Fallambrini, those 
of Novara Rotondi, their opponents, being known as 
Marcabotti and Sanguigni. 

Accidental as the first outbreak of strife in a city often 
was, or dependent on private or class interests, the fac- 
tions inevitably tended to rest on real divergencies of 
principle. The nobles of Vicenza had suffered dreadfully 
at the hands of Ezzelino, yet, only a few years after his 
fall, we find an avowed Ghibelline party among them. 
Verona had rejoiced at the overthrow of the tyrant, but 
did not swerve for a moment from her allegiance to the 
survivors of the House of Hohenstaufen. We notice a 
distinct tendency on the part of the popolo, as it rose to 
power, to adopt the Guelf party. This is especially seen 
in the Communes of Tuscany ; but it is also the case in 
Parma, Bologna, and, apparently, in Cremona. At the 

' Shakespeare's Capulets would seem to be named after these 
Capelletti, whom later traditions brought (erroneously) to Verona. 
His Montagues are certainly the Montecchi. 



350 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

same time, we must note that in Verona and Mantua the 
rise to power of the people meant the triumph of the 
GhibelHnes. The great feudal lords were attracted, 
naturally enough, to the Imperial party ; though here 
again we must note the exceptional attitude of the 
Houses of Este and San Bonifazio. 

Piacenza gives us a curious instance of these tenden- 
cies. At first the popolo, with the great feudal family of 
De Andito or Landi at their head, had been Imperialist, 
while the nobles had been the allies of Milan and the 
League. It was the people who set up Pelavicini. But 
during his rule a change seems to have set in. After his 
expulsion, quite a number of the nobles appear as form- 
ing with the Landi the Ghibelline party, in close alliance 
with the feudal lords among the mountains, while the 
middle classes are now on the side of the Guelfs, and on 
friendly terms with the ruling popular party in Parma, 
Cremona, and Milan.i 

We must not forget that there were some towns free 
from changes. Verona was steadily Ghibelline ; the 
Count of San Bonifazio and his supporters, though 
restored to the city after Ezzelino's death, were ex- 
pelled in 1263 for good and all. Padua once freed from 
Ezzelino remained Guelf as long as her independence 
lasted. In Bologna the nobles fought among themselves 
during the later years of Frederick II. ; but a Ghibelline 
party did not appear until about 1255, and never gained 
complete control of the Commune. 

Or there might be only one short period of struggle. 
Thus Mantua had been consistently Guelf, and under the 
influence of the families of Este and San Bonifazio until 
1260. In that year the Marquis and Count were expelled 
by a sudden uprising. They returned two years later 

' On the other hand, in Brescia the nobles became Ghibelline to 
gain help in their struggle with the popolo. After Pelavicini's 
expulsion the nobles seem to have controlled the city for many 
years. They split into factions. At the close of the century there 
were twenty-four noble Guelf families, fourteen noble Ghibelline 
families. Some eight or ten others formed the factions of the Griffi 
and Bardelli, of whom the former were Ghibelline. 



GUELFS AND GHIBELLINES 351 

and drove out their adversaries. Then followed a period 
of unexampled violence. Four powerful families led 
after them the four quarters into which the city was 
divided. Of these the Casaloldi and the Bonaccolsi 
expelled the Arloti and Zanicalli. The Marquis of Este 
attempted to restore the latter ; but the whole city rose 
in uproar against him. He withdrew, but plotted to gain 
possession of the city. Pinamonte Bonaccolsi, an un- 
scrupulous and able man, alienated the Count of San 
Bonifazio from the old ally of his house ; and they, with 
the Casaloldi, foiled all the efforts of the Marquis. 

This was in 1269, and three years later Bonaccolsi 
drove out the Count and the Casaloldi. He had managed 
to attach the people to his side, and by their help he 
expelled the Count of Marcharia and his followers, who 
had aided him against San Bonifazio. The old Guelf 
aristocracy of Mantua had been shattered in these 
struggles. Bonaccolsi appeared as leader of the popolo, 
and an avowed Ghibelline. Being now de facto ruler of 
the city, he was elected by the multitude as Captain of 
the People for life — a dignity which he passed on to his 
son. A despotism was thus set up in Mantua which 
continued under a succession of able and unscrupulous 
descendants of Pinamonte until 1328, when the Bonac- 
colsi were overthrown by Lodovico Gonzaga, whose 
posterity ruled Mantua until 1 708.1 

Amidst all the confusion of the time we can mark a 
steady growth of the power of the popolo during the 
last fifty years of the thirteenth century. The rising 
democracy in Milan, in Mantua,^ and in other towns 
committed suicide by setting up a despot. But in 
Parma, Reggio, Modena, and Bologna — to name only 
those Communes where this movement can be most 
clearly traced — the popolo, organised in its trades guilds 
or Arti, became the ruling element in the state, and broke 
the power of the old aristocracy. 

' The Counts of San Bonifazio disappear after 1272 from the 
history of the Mark and Mantua ; but they still remained power- 
ful in other parts of Italy. 

^ Pinamonte Bonaccolsi nearly destroyed the Mantuan nobility. 



352 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

From an early period the trades guilds had had 
certain elected magistrates to decide cases arising out 
of question of trade, markets, &c. These Consoli delle 
Arti, or della Mercadanzia, as they were called, were 
frequently called to assist at the deliberations of the 
ruling magistrates of the Commune. In the thirteenth 
century the constant warfare of city against city led to 
increased taxation, and it was but natural that the classes 
on whom the increasing burthen pressed most heavily 
should demand more and more voice in the management 
of public affairs. 

Hence arose the continual conflicts between popolo 
and nobles which we have spoken of as occurring in 
almost every city during the first thirty years of the 
century. These quarrels were checked for a time by 
the war with Frederick II. But they soon broke out 
again ; and the people, strong in their numbers and 
organisation, increasing every day in wealth, almost 
always triumphed over the aristocracy, who were 
weakened by their constant feuds. 

The first step in the rising power of the guilds is the 
admission of their heads to a share in the government. 
This was obtained in Bologna in 1228, in Parma in 
1244, in each case by a popular insurrection. ^ Then 
there appears a new magistrate — Captain of the People, 
Ancient of the People, Podesta of the People, as he was 
called in different cities. This magistracy, a development 
of an earlier and minor one, that of Podesta of the Mer- 
chants, appears as equal, and soon as superior, to that of 
the Podesta of the Commune. The new magistrate, 
curiously enough, is often a noble, sometimes from 
another city. His duties are to head the armed forces 
of the guilds, to suppress disorders among the nobles, to 
protect the people from the oppression to which they 
were too often exposed at the hands of the turbulent 
younger members of the aristocracy. He has a special 
guard, his smaller and greater councils composed of 
members of the guilds, his own courts of justice, his 

^ In Milan, Brescia, Piacenza, and Cremona, as we have seen, the 
rise of the popolo was earlier. 



OUELFS AND GHIBELLINES 353 

own revenues. Alongside of the Palace of the Com- 
mune — the seat of the Podesta and councils of the 
Commune — rises the Palazzo del Popolo, where the 
new magistrate holds his seat.^ 

This new office first appears in Parma in 1244, in 
Piacenza in 1250, in Bologna in 1255, in other cities 
in the following years. In some cases the partisans of 
the older order were able to do away with the new magis- 
tracy, for a time at least. In Parma the new office was 
abolished in 1244, almost as soon as it was set up ; and 
not till 1253 do we hear of another Captain of the People 
in that city. In that year it was revived in the person of 
Ghiberto da Gente, already Podesta of the Merchants, 
who took advantage of it to make himself despot of the 
city. This latter proceeding was, indeed, a common one 
in those cities where the resistance of the old privileged 
classes was great. The popolo were ready to sacrifice 
their liberty, if by so doing they could crush their oppo- 
nents. The best example of this is the history of the 
Delia Torre in Milan. 

Ghiberto was overthrown in 1250, and the Captainship 
of the People abolished. It was set up again in 1266, a 
year in which the Ghibellines were expelled, and the 
people definitely triumphed over the nobles thus 
weakened. The government of Parma passed now 
into the hands of the trades guilds. For nearly forty 
years Parma enjoyed prosperity under this new govern- 
ment. The private quarrels of the nobles were repressed ; 
their insolence towards the lower orders was curbed by 
statutes passed in 1279. Parma, tranquil at home, ex- 
tended its influence by peaceful means over Reggio and 
Modena, and held the same position among the Emilian 
cities as Milan in Central Lombardy and Bologna in 
Romagna. 

The new government in Parma and in other cities 
which followed the same course of development was, on 
the whole, a government of the middle classes. Only 
certain guilds had full civic privileges. In Parma in 
1 2 15 fifteen guilds were subject to the Rector of the 
' In Reggio the Palazzo del Popolo was built in 1280. 
23 



354 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

Merchants, and no doubt it was these fifteen that obtained 
a share in the councils of the state in 1244. In 1253 
seven, and in 1261 four more, were admitted to the same 
privileges. Of the older ruling classes the merchants, 
bankers, and those whose position in the ruling oligarchy 
was based on wealth acquired by trade or manufacture, 
took their place naturally in the new government as 
members of a guild. In some cities the bankers, lawyers, 
and merchants had special privileges over those guilds 
such as shoemakers, masons, carpenters, who belonged 
more to the artisan class. In other cities, again, these 
wealthier guilds were under certain disabilities. In 
Bologna the lawyers were excluded from the Council 
of the People ; in that city and Parma the butchers 
were specially important ; in Florence the " Art of 
Wool " was of greatest influence.^ The poorer classes 
in general were shut out from any share of the govern- 
ment. But they, in turn, were constantly striving to 
obtain the privileges enjoyed by the classes above them. 
In some cities new guilds were from time to time ad- 
mitted to those privileges ; in others the lower orders, 
shut out from power, were ready to help any ambitious 
man who strove to make himself despot ; in others they 
were ready to help the nobles to recover their lost power. 

As for the nobles, properly so called, the landowning 
feudal aristocracy, they now really become a caste apart. 
In some Communes they were still allowed a share in the 
government, on condition of enrolling themselves in a 
guild; in others they were completely shutout from all. 
the magistracies, though still allowed to enter the Council 
of the Commune. 

Thus, instead of the old aristocracy, we have a new 
oligarchy set up, consisting of the middle classes. On 
the one hand the Magnates, Grandi, or Nobili are ex- 
cluded, on the other the Plebe or Popolo Minuto.^ 

' The seven " Greater Arts " of Florence were : (i) Judges, 
Notaries, and Doctors of Law. (2) The Guild of "Calimala," or 
importers of foreign cloth. (3) Bankers and Money-changers. 
(4) The Guild of Wool. (5) The Silk Mercers. (6) Physicians and 
Apothecaries. (7) Furriers. 

= Florence and Siena at the close of the thirteenth and the opening 




Photo.l 



Leaning Towers. 
Bologna. 



[Pielro Poppi, Bologna. 



To face page 355. 



GUELFS AND GHIBELLINES 355 

The new middle-class government was in general Guelf 
in its tendencies. The triumph of the Arti marks in 
Parma, Piacenza, Modena, Bologna, as well as in Tus- 
cany, a definite Guelf victory. In Parma in 1284 all 
Ghibellines were included among the " potentes," and 
as such were subject to special disabilities. 

This brings us to a curious feature in the development 
of the Communes — the penal laws against the nobles. 
The victorious middle classes, weary of the ceaseless 
feuds of the nobles amongst themselves, and of their acts 
of violence against the persons and property of the rest 
of the population, passed laws not only excluding them 
from all share in the government of the city, but subject- 
ing them to a special and onerous code of laws, the least 
infringement of which was visited by heavy penalties, of 
which one of the commonest was the destruction of their 
palaces and towers. To be made a noble was a punish- 
ment reserved for unruly burghers ; to be enrolled among 
the people was a reward bestowed on those nobles who 
had deserved well of the Commune. 

The famous " Ordinances of Justice " of Florence are 
the best-known example of these statutes ; but we find 
similar laws in force in most of the other Tuscan 
cities — Siena, Lucca, even Ghibelline Pisa. North of 
the Apennines, besides the decrees in Parma, already 
mentioned, Bologna offers the best instance of such 
measures. 

This city, owing to the extent of its territory and its 
importance from early times, possessed an unusually 
large and powerful nobility. The " Cronica di Bologna," 
giving a list of the families who took sides in the quarrel 
of the Lambertazzi and Geremei, names nearly two 
hundred families, who, from their names, nearly all 
appear to have been noble.^ There were over 180 
towers erected by nobles. The two famous leaning 
towers of the Garisenda and the Asinelli, and the ten 
or twelve others which remain in a mutilated condition, 

of the fourteenth century offer the best examples of such middle- 
class oligarchies. 

' A similar list for Florence gives only seventy-six. 



356 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

enable us to form some faint idea of what the city must 
have looked like in the thirteenth century. 

During the later years of the war with Frederick II. 
we constantly hear of feuds between different noble 
families. The Tetalasini fought the Pepoli ; the Lamber- 
tini fought the Scannabecchi ; the chronicles give long 
lists of warring families, between whom peaces were 
arranged by earnest monks or vigorous Podestas. In 
spite of these quarrels the city remained constant in its 
opposition to the Emperor. But soon after Frederick's 
death the Bolognese, like many other communities, 
showed that they were not inclined to give a blind 
obedience to the Pope in matters affecting their own 
immediate interests. 

A Bolognese nobleman, Brancaleone degli Andalo, 
had been made Senator of Rome, where he distinguished 
himself by the severity with which he repressed the tur- 
bulence of the nobles. The latter finally managed to 
alienate from him the support of the mass of the people 
and threw him into prison. He had, however, before 
accepting office, taken the precaution of getting as 
hostages members of some of the chief noble Roman 
families, who had been sent to Bologna. His wife now 
(1255) persuaded the Bolognese to put the hostages in 
close captivity. This brought down on the city the 
anger of Pope Alexander IV., to whom Brancaleone 
was exceedingly obnoxious, and who laid the city 
under an interdict. The Degli Andalo had sufficient 
influence to persuade the government to defy the Pope. 
Their chief supporters in this matter were the powerful 
family of the Lambertazzi. There were many of the 
burghers, however, to whom a breach with the Church 
was hateful, and they found natural leaders in the deadly 
enemies of the Lambertazzi — the great House of the 
Geremei. 

In connection with the enmity between these two 
houses the chroniclers recount the tragic story of 
Bonifazio and Imelda, a Bolognese Romeo and Juliet.^ 

' It does not appear when (if ever) this tragedy took place ; 
apparently the two families were already at variance. 



GUELFS AND GHIBELLINES 357 

Bonifazio, of the Geremei, loved the fair Imelda, of the 
Lambertazzi, and was secretly received by her in her 
house. But a servant betrayed the secret to Imelda's 
brothers, who, rushing to their sister's room, stabbed 
Bonifazio with one of the poisoned daggers, of Eastern 
make, which the Crusades had brought into use in Italy. 
Then they dragged the body away to hide it in a deserted 
spot. Imelda had fled at the noise of her brothers' entry. 
Now she returned, and, following up the traces of blood, 
she came to her lover's body. Life was not yet extinct ; 
and Imelda, recognising the kind of weapon used, at- 
tempted, in the only way known to her, to counteract 
the effects of the poison. She tried to suck the venom 
from the wound. But she only sacrificed her own life 
without saving her lover's. The poison took effect on 
her also, and she fell dead across Bonifazio's lifeless body. 
Henceforward the hatred of the two families knew no 
bounds, and in time all the nobles of Bologna ranged 
themselves on one side or the other. 

The quarrel with the Pope was brought to an end in 
the same year by mutual concessions. But the people, 
who, as we have already seen, had obtained in 1238 a 
share in the government by a violent insurrection, seem 
to have profited by the division among the aristocracy to 
increase their power. The first Captain of the People 
was created in 1255, and about the same time we hear of 
certain " Companies of Arms" whose duty seems to have 
been to check the lawlessness of the nobles.^ Alongside of 
the Captain of the People there was the magistracy called 
the Anziani, or Ancients, seventeen in number, elected 
by the Companies of Arms and the guilds, as well as a 
council of forty-two members, eight of whom were 
chosen by the merchants and bankers, the others from 
the other guilds and the Companies. There was also a 
Council of the Credenza of the People, from which the 
nobles were excluded. They were still eligible for the 
Council of the Popolo provided they were enrolled in a 
Company, or among the bankers and merchants. 

In 1270 another step was taken against the nobles. 
' These Companies originated about 1230 (Gaudenzi). 



358 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

They were shut out from the Companies of Arms, which, 
together with the Arti, had by now got the chief share in 
the government of the city. 

These new arrangements did not stop the feuds. In 

1258 there was a great battle in the city between the 
Geremei and the Lambertazzi, besides innumerable 
minor outbreaks. Another quarrel with the Pope 
brought down a sentence of excommunication on the 
city in 1259. The Geremei came forward decidedly as 
partisans of the Pope ; the Lambertazzi and their faction 
naturally drifted towards the Ghibellines. After another 
year of street fighting the city was reconciled with the 
Church, but internal tranquillity was not restored. 

Robberies of shops by young nobles in want of money 
and excitement,^ quarrels over a lady's hand at a dance 
or over a box on the ear given during a merrymaking 
and spreading to a riot involving the whole city, a rising 
of the shoemakers who set fire to the Palace of the 
Podesta, a popular tumult against the Captain of the 
People, the "parties" at one another's throats in 
the streets, make up the annals of Bologna for the next 
few years. The exasperated people at length took severer 
steps to curb the nobles. Special laws were passed to 
curb them, and a " Standard-Bearer of Justice " was 
appointed to enforce these laws by armed force if neces- 
sary. The " magnates " were forbidden to enter the 
palace of the government, or to go to their country 
castles. 

Up to this date Bologna had been Guelf in its foreign 
policy. Now, however, the Lambertazzi, who had been 
gradually drawing nearer to the Ghibellines, incited the 
city to attack its old enemy Modena. The Modenese had 
taken advantage of Bologna's quarrel with the Pope in 

1259 to shake off the dependence in which they had been 
since 1250. They had expelled their Ghibellines in 1265, 
and these were carrying on war against the city from 
their castles in the mountains. The Modenese Guelfs 
attempted to ward off the impending onslaught by con- 
cessions, but these were of no avail, and a large Bolog- 

' The young nobles were hanged. 



GUELFS AND GHIBELLINES 359 

nese army captured a number of border castles. The 
Modenese sought help from all the neighbouring Guelf 
cities, and the reinforcements they thus obtained put 
them on a level numerically with the Bolognese. In 
Bologna itself the Geremei and all their party were 
opposed to the war. They opened secret negotiations 
with the Marquis of Este, so that the Lambertazzi, who 
had prepared to attack Modena itself, grew afraid that if 
they left Bologna their rivals would seize the gates and 
shut them out altogether. The projected attack on 
Modena was abandoned, and the Bolognese directed 
their energies against the turbulent cities of the 
Romagna. An attempt to seize on Forli failed, this time 
because the Lambertazzi were opposed to it. 

Matters came to a head in 1274. The Geremei again 
proposed to attack Forli, which was the centre of the 
Ghibelline influence in Romagna. The Lambertazzi 
came forward with a counter proposition to attack 
Modena, and fell upon the Geremei. From all the 
neighbouring Guelf cities contingents hurried to help 
the Geremei ; Forli, Faenza, and the Ghibellines of 
Romagna hastened to the aid of the Lambertazzi. But 
the people of Bologna seized the gates and beat back the 
reinforcements of both parties. Then they turned on the 
contending nobles and forced them to lay aside their 
arms. 

As soon as peace was made the Geremei brought the 
Carroccio into the great square, and called on the people 
to follow them against Forli. The Lambertazzi rushed 
to attack the Carroccio. For forty days, according to 
one account, a battle raged in the piazza, and round the 
towers and palaces of Bologna. The majority of the 
people finally sided with the Geremei, and the Lamber- 
tazzi were forced to abandon the city. More than twelve 
thousand persons were driven into exile, and took the 
road to Faenza. 

More than half the noble families of Bologna had been 
expelled ; henceforth the people were supreme in the 
city. The remaining nobles were shut out from any 
share in the government. The " Sacred Ordinances " 



360 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

passed in 1282 were intended to put a stop once for all to 
the private feuds of the nobles, and to the excesses of 
which they were still guilty towards the lower orders. 
The nobles were subjected to a special code of laws, 
under which their slightest misdeeds were rigorously 
punished. The Companies of Arms and the guilds were 
brought into close connection with one another, and the 
government of the republic passed entirely into the hands 
of their members.^ 

Machiavelli says of a similar exclusion of the nobles 
from the government of Florence that it led to the decay 
of the martial spirit of the city. The nobles no longer 
cared to serve in war a fatherland which excluded them 
from all dignities and subjected them to a rigorous penal 
code. The people were forced to hire foreign mer- 
cenaries to fill up the ranks of the cavalry, which was 
rapidly becoming by far the most important arm in war- 
fare. And as the smaller merchants, the shopkeepers and 
the artisans, who supplied the infantry, were naturally 
disinclined to leave their occupations to serve for any 
length of time in the field, the burgher infantry, too, was 
soon replaced by mercenaries. 

In Bologna the expulsion of more than half the nobles 
was at once accompanied by a marked diminution of the 
fighting power of the Commune.^ In a great battle at 
the bridge of San Procolo in 1275 against Forli and 
Faenza and the exiled Lambertazzi, the Bolognese cavalry 
were driven off the field. Most of the infantry then took 
to flight. Four thousand of the Bolognese foot, how- 
ever, closed round the Carroccio and refused to fly. The 
victorious army brought their war machines to bear on 
them, and forced them to yield themselves prisoners. 
The Bolognese admitted to two thousand killed and 
wounded and five thousand five hundred prisoners. The 

' At this time there were nineteen guilds (including bankers and 
merchants) and nineteen Companies. The bakers, tavern keepers, 
and many other trades were excluded from the privileged guilds in 
Bologna. 

* One hundred and four Ghibelline and ninety-two Guelf families 
— all or mostly noble — are named by the chronicler. 



GUELFS AND GHIBELLINES 361 

chronicler of Forli declares that more than three thou- 
sand Bolognese besides a great number of their allies 
lost their lives. In 1296 or 1297 Bologna lost more than 
two thousand prisoners in another disastrous battle with 
the Ghibellines of Romagna. The commanding position 
which she had held in that province was completely lost.^ 

But though popular rule in Bologna led to disasters 
abroad, yet under it the city preserved its liberty longer 
than almost any other Commune in Lombardy. Not 
until 1337 was the popular constitution replaced by the 
rule of a despot. 

The chief event in the general history of Lombardy 
during the next few years after Pelavicini's downfall was 
the attempt made by Charles of Anjou to establish him- 
self as ruler of the Guelf cities. Piacenza, Parma, 
Reggio, Modena, Cremona, Brescia, and Alessandria 
chose him as " Signore," a title which in this case seems 
chiefly to have conferred on him the right of appointing 
the Podesta and directing the foreign policy of the state. 
His efforts to bring Milan under his sway led him into a 
certain opposition to the Torriani ; but outwardly peace 
was maintained, and Milan, and no doubt other cities, 
enjoyed during these years a full share of the prosperity 
which such an unusual state of things brought with it.^ 

Meanwhile the war with the exiled Milanese nobles 
smouldered on. Archbishop Otto could not or would 
not venture within the walls of the city ; and the efforts 
of Pope Gregory X., who passed through Milan in 1272, 
failed to bring about a pacification. Pavia, left without 

' " Read your statutes, miserable populace ! " cried the Count of 
Panico on one occasion, as he saw the burgher infantry flying in 
confusion. The Bolognese rarely were successful in pitched battles. 
Their wealth and population gave them predominance over their 
neighbours. 

' A revolt of Lodi against the Delia Torre was almost the only 
interruption to this tranquillity. The city was taken by storm, and 
two towers were built by the Torriani to hold it in check. 

During the years after 1270 we read of important public works 
undertaken in several cities. In Milan Napoleone della Torre paved 
the streets ; in Parma and Reggio public buildings were erected, 
bridges built, canals excavated. 



362 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

allies, had been forced to sue for peace with the Guelf 
cities. M-any of the Milanese nobles had come to terms 
with the Torriani ; Napoleone, the head of the family, 
had been recognised by the new Emperor Rudolf of 
Habsburg as his vicar in Milan ; and the situation of the 
exiles appeared hopeless, when a revolution in Como 
gave them a secure place of refuge, and brought about a 
change which enabled the Ghibelline faction once more 
to raise its head in the valley of the Po. 

In Como, as we have seen, there had been a long- 
standing quarrel between nobles and people. This city, 
like Bergamo and Brescia, lies just on the edge of the 
Lombard plain, and the territory subject to these cities 
extended through a labyrinth of sub-alpine valleys right 
up to the high ranges of the St. Gothard and the Ortler. 
The feudal lords, if driven from the towns to their castles 
in these valleys, were able to defy with comparative im- 
punity all the efforts of the people to subdue them ; 
hence a success of the popular party had for its imme- 
diate result the loss of practically the whole Contado. 
In these cities, therefore, the nobles succeeded in retain- 
ing great power, in spite of the support given by the 
Torriani to the popular party. 

Now the Rusconi, chiefs of the nobles, once more 
seized on the government of Como, and that city became 
at once a rallying-point for the exiles from Milan. ^ En- 
couraged by this, Pavia once more appeared in the field 
in support of the Ghibellines ; so did Asti ; the Marquis 
William of Montferrat, abandoning the Guelf s, joined 
himself to them ; and in Novara, where the Torriani had 
selfishly allowed Guelfs and Ghibellines to fight out their 
quarrels unhindered, hoping to bring the city, weakened 
by feuds, more completely under their power, an unex- 
pected victory of the latter lost that city, too, to the Guelf 
cause. The new allies soon got possession of Alessandria 
and Alba, which had of late been subject to Charles of 

' In 1264 the Rusconi, at the head of the nobles, had tried to 
expel the opposite faction, the Vitani. FiHppo della Torre had 
driven them out, and then ruled the city by means of his brother 
Raimondo, Bishop of Como, and the Vitani. 



GUELFS AND GHIBELLINES 363 

Anjou, and the Delia Torre saw their power threatened 
from outside, while in Milan discontent with their rule 
was rapidly increasing.^ 

The war that followed was at first unfavourable to the 
Ghibellines. In land and naval fights, around and on 
the waters of Lago Maggiore and in the district of Seprio, 
the Delia Torre obtained several striking victories. 

They abused their success by executing the Milanese 
nobles who fell into their hands. Amongst them was 
a nephew of Archbishop Otto ; and this provoked the 
prelate, who of late had taken no active part in the 
contest, to come forward again as head of the exiles. 
His energy and his constancy, even after new defeats, 
gave fresh vigour to his party, while the Torriani were 
more and more losing the favour of the populace of 
Milan, who were suffering from the high taxation incident 
to the war. Finally, in 1277, undeterred by previous 
defeats, the exiles and the forces of Como advanced 
on Milan itself. Napoleone drew out a small force to 
stop them ; for disaffection had reached such a point 
in the city that he dared not withdraw all his troops. 
Rendered careless by previous victories, he suffered 
himself to be surprised in the night at the village of 
Desio. The victory of the Ghibellines was complete ; 
many of the Delia Torre were slain, Napoleone himself 
with five of his near relatives were captured, and only 
Cassone, Napoleone's son, who had not been present at 
the fight, escaped to Milan. 

Here he found all in uproar, and the mob engaged 
in plundering the palaces of the Delia Torre. He slew 
many of these ; but finding it hopeless to attempt to 
maintain himself in the city, he escaped at nightfall with 
such of his cavalry as still adhered to him. Lodi, to 
which he first fled, refused to receive him, so did Cremona, 
finally he found shelter in Parma. 

The captured Delia Torre were shut up by the 
Comasques in cages in the castle of Baradello, the lofty 

' According to Leo the exact chronology of the revolt of Como 
from the Guelf s and the new uprising of the Ghibelline power is not 
very certain. 



364 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

ruins of which are familiar to all travellers from Como 
to Milan. Archbishop Otto was received with loud 
acclamations by the people, and was chosen unanimously 
as lord of the city by the Great Council. For the first 
time in its history Milan was definitely Ghibelline. 

The other Guelf cities seem to have given little or 
no support in these years to the Delia Torre ; but now 
the loss of Milan alarmed them all, and once more 
a general war ensued between the two factions in 
Lombardy. A brother of Napoleone, Raimondo, had 
some years before been made Patriarch of Aquileia. 
The Patriarchs of Aquileia, placed on the borders between 
the lands of the Italian and those of the German kingdom, 
had been specially favoured by the Emperors, who hoped, 
by their means, always to have an open road into Italy. 
They had become rulers of a most extensive territory, 
embracing the greater part of the modern Friuli ; and 
as, unlike their brother prelates of Italy proper, they had 
to contend with no large cities in these regions, they 
had become the equals, if not the superiors, in power, 
not only of the ecclesiastical princes of Germany, but 
also of all but the greatest lay lords as well. Raimondo 
now actively helped his nephew Cassone ; and the 
edifying sight was presented of the two leading eccle- 
siastics in North Italy at the head of the^party of the 
Popes and of the Emperors respectively. 

On the Guelf side were Cremona, Brescia, Piacenza, 
and the other cities south of the Po, including Bologna 
and Ferrara. A sudden attack gave them possession 
of Lodi in 1278, and this city and the neighbourhood 
were for the next few years the scene of operations 
between the two factions. At the head of the Ghibellines, 
alongside of Otto, stood William of Montferrat, who 
was elected in 1278 captain of the military forces of 
Pavia, Milan, Vercelli, Como, Novara, Asti, Casale, 
Alessandria, and Tortona. Besides these cities, where 
his power was chiefly military, he had been chosen as 
Signore of Turin, Ivrea, and Crema, and even the 
Ghibelline lords of Verona and Mantua appointed him 
as captain of their troops. Such an extensive power 



GUELFS AND GHIBELLINES 365 

had never yet been concentrated in the hands of one 
man in Lombardy. 

By a curious change we now find Cremona, once 
so devoted to the cause of the Empire, the champion 
of the Guelfs, together with Parma, which had for long 
enjoyed internal peace under the wise rule of her middle 
classes, and which seems during this period to have been 
looked on as holding the chief rank among the cities 
of the Church party. Milan, always Papal till now, 
henceforth leads the Imperial party. But we must notice 
that these names had by this time lost nearly all signi- 
ficance, and served but as pretexts for enmity. Rudolf 
of Habsburg, elected Emperor in 1273, was on the most 
friendly terms with the pontiffs, to whom he had definitely 
surrendered all claims of the Empire to the lands included 
in the Donation of Pepin. In other words, he first 
definitely recognised the independence of the states 
of the Church. Moreover, the Popes who reigned from 
1271 to 1280, and Nicholas IV., who reigned from 1288 
to 1292, on the whole strove to reconcile the two parties, 
or at least to hold the balance even. Guelf and Ghibelline, 
then, now only meant in Lombardy the factions of Delia 
Torre and Visconti.^ 

In one way the war which ensued marks an improve- 
ment in Italian affairs. The hostile parties formed two 
fairly solid groups, on one side the cities of Piedmont 
and the west of Lombardy proper; on the other 
those south of the Po and from the Adda to the Mincio.^ 
The flame of war was concentrated along one line ; it 
was no longer sporadic over the whole country as in the 
days when Milan was at death-grips with her neighbours 
of Como, Lodi, and Novara, when Piacenza fought 
against Parma, Brescia against Bergamo, Mantua against 
Verona. The material gain of this new state of affairs 
it is evident must have been enormous. 

It would be tedious to recount the war that followed. 

^ Giovanni Villani calls Nicholas IV. a Ghibelline. 

^ Verona and Mantua formed a detached Ghibelline group in 
the east ; they seem to have been in a state of smouldering hostihty 
to Parma and Ferrara. 



366 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

It was at first centred round Lodi ; then, after Lodi, 
early in 1282, had been forced to make peace with Milan, 
without, however, abandoning the party of the Church, 
operations were chiefly carried on in the districts of 
Crema and Cremona. Our old friend, Buoso da Doara, 
reappears for a short time as ruler of Crema, which he 
had captured, and also as master of Soncino in the 
Contado of Cremona.^ 

The only noticeable event is a great defeat of the 
Torriani, near Vaprio in 1281, in which Cassone was 
slain, and which caused the effacement, for some time 
at least, of their family. 

Already the two leagues had shown signs of breaking 
up. Archbishop Otto had been forced in 1278 to accept 
William of Montferrat as lord of Milan for ten years.^ 
Now without William's consent Milan made peace with 
Brescia, Cremona, and Piacenza, and a few months later 
Otto expelled William's Podesta from Milan, and was 
himself once more chosen as Signore.3 

The affairs of Lombardy seem again to relapse into 
confusion. Milan, Brescia, Cremona, and Piacenza form 
a league, neither strictly Guelf nor Ghibelline. As, 
however, the three latter cities still remained closely 
united with the other Guelf states, we may suppose that 
peace now prevailed over the east of Lombardy proper. 
On the other hand, Otto was now an enemy of Montferrat ; 
and finally, in 1284, William openly declared himself 
on the side of the Torriani. 

We have already had occasion to mention various 
acquisitions made by the Marquis William Longsword 
of Montferrat. His career, like those of Ezzelino and 
Oberto Pelavicini, offers a striking illustration of the 

' Muratori, however, suggests that this Buoso was a son or 
nephew of the former lord of Cremona. 

= William was given power of making war and peace at his 
pleasure, and was granted " la plena dominazione e signoria con 
mero e misto impero e omnimoda giurisdizione di essa citta di 
Milano per x. anni" ("Corio," cit. by Salzer, p. 212), 

3 The great tower of Cremona was built in commemoration of 
this peace. 



GUELFS AND GHIBELLINES 367 

chances of self-advancement which Italy presented to 
those capable of seizing on them. 

In the north-west angle of Italy feudalism had to a 
great extent held its ground against the encroachments 
of the cities. Already the House of Savoy, from the 
watershed between France and Italy, had begun that 
descent into Piedmont which was in our own day to 
lead it to Rome and Naples. Of minor princes, such 
as the Marquises of Saluzzo, of Ceva, of Carretto, the 
Lancia, there were many who held the mountains which 
separate Piedmont from the Ligurian coast. 

The Marquises of Montferrat were the most powerful 
of all the feudal lords in these districts. The hill 
country, which rises like an island between the valleys 
of the Upper Po and the Tanaro, formed the nucleus 
of their territory, but their rule extended over many 
outlying regions. The cities to the north, Casale, Vercelli, 
and Ivrea, and to the west, Turin and Chieri, were 
none of them of sufficient power to interfere with the 
House of Montferrat. To the south the powerful Asti — 
which numbered in the thirteenth century some sixty 
thousand inhabitants — hemmed them in. The founda- 
tion of Alessandria at the south-east angle of their 
dominions, which was meant to hold them in check, 
served rather to increase their power, by weakening Asti. 
To the east lay the extensive territory of Pavia, but that 
city had enough occupation nearer home to prevent 
any desire for adventure in the hill country across 
the Po. 

The Crusades brought great glory to the rulers of 
Montferrat. In the Fourth Crusade one of them acquired 
the kingdom of Thessalonica and some territories in the 
Balkan Peninsula remained to his descendants as late 
as 1284. 

For long the Marquises of Montferrat had been 
partisans of the House of Hohenstaufen ; but William 
Longsword, who, while still a boy,i had succeeded to the 

' In 1253. His first wife was an English princess, daughter of 
Richard Earl of Gloucester. After her death he married, in 1271, 
a daughter of King Alfonso of Castille. 



368 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

headship of the family, showed through all his life a 
facility for sudden changes of party which seems to 
prove that he had formed the idea, by helping both 
factions in turn, of becoming the arbiter of all the 
surrounding districts. In fact, he seems to have formed 
the plan of utilising the party strife which distracted the 
neighbouring cities in order to bring them all under his 
rule, and thus to found a feudal sovereignty comparable 
to that possessed by the great vassals of the French 
Crown. This policy might have succeeded if he had 
adopted the prudent course, afterwards so successfully 
carried out by the House of Savoy, of confining his efforts 
to Piedmont, and incorporating one city thoroughly with 
his dominions before attempting to absorb the next. 
But his ambition led him too far ; he mixed himself in 
all the intrigues that distracted Central Lombardy, and 
his attempts to hold the great cities of Milan and Pavia 
only prevented him from achieving a lasting success 
nearer home. 

His first opportunity came in 1260, when the Guelf 
exiles of Alessandria, the party of the Trotti, offered him 
the lordship of their city in return for his help against 
the dominant faction, the Ghibelline Lanzavecchia. He 
expelled the latter, and in return received the fealty of 
the Guelfs, who not only chose him as Captain of the 
city, but also made over to him the city and its territory, 
which he handed back to them, to be henceforth held by 
the burghers as a fief of Montferrat. Acqui and Tortona 
followed the example of Alessandria. 

His first attempt on Alessandria was followed by 
failure, for in 1262 the Lanzavecchia recovered the city, 
and handed it over to Oberto Pelavicini, who also got 
possession of Tortona. At this time William appears on 
friendly terms with King Manfred; but in 1264 he joined 
himself more closely with the Guelfs and Charles of 
Anjou. 

Two years later he won Turin from the Ghibelline 
House of Savoy ; and in the same year Ivrea gave itself 
to him on much the same terms as Alessandria had done. 
On the fall of Pelavicini, Alessandria, after some years of 



GUELFS AND GHIBELLINES 369 

confusion, gave itself to Charles of Anjou^; and as this 
prince seemed likely to bring a great part of Piedmont 
under his rule, William began to detach himself from his 
party and to approach the Ghibellines. 

He had already recovered Tortona, but lost it again 
after a few years. Now he negotiated with the Lanza- 
vecchia, in order by their help to recover Alessandria. 
He regained this city, where the factions had been raging 
with peculiar violence, but it was by the help of his old 
allies the Trotti, and on terms more restricted than had 
been the case eighteen years before. He had now been 
for some time in close alliance with the Visconti and the 
Ghibellines of Milan, and he used the opportunity to 
recall the Lanzavecchia, so as to rule by the mutual 
jealousy of both parties. Pavia and Asti were his allies ; 
in 1274 the Ghibellines of Novara had called him in 
against the Delia Torre ; he was fast becoming the most 
powerful personage in North Italy. 

The general war which broke out between the Ghibel- 
line cities and those which supported the Delia Torre 
added immensely to his power. Vercelli chose him as 
war-captain for ten years ; he recovered Tortona, Ivrea, 
and Acqui, and finally the confederated Ghibellines, 
Milan, Pavia, Asti, Novara, Como, Casale, and Genoa, 
chose him as war-captain for five years. The power con- 
ferred by this title differed, most probably, in the various 
cities ; in some William was nearly absolute ruler, in 
others his authority was limited to military matters. But 
in one way or other he now ruled over all the cities from 
the western Alps to the Adda. 

In Milan itself the exigencies of the war and the 
initial successes of the Torriani forced Otto Visconti to 
resign, outwardly at least, all power into his hands ; and 
Alessandria first increased his jurisdiction, then made 
him hereditary lord. The acquisition of Crema extended 
his rule to the east ; but in the same year (1280) he lost 
Turin to its rightful owner, the Count of Savoy. His 
operations as general of the Ghibellines brought him 

' In 1259 several small towns, Alba, Cuneo, Montevico, Savigliano, 
and Chierasco had chosen Charles as Signore. 

24 



y 



370 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

little credit ; indeed, he seems to have had no capacity as 
a leader of large bodies of troops in the field. In 
thirteenth-century Italy, far in advance of the rest of 
Europe, statecraft already counted for more than personal 
valour or military skill. His want of success against the 
Guelfs afforded Visconti a chance of getting rid of such 
a dangerous ally ; his Podesta and troops were expelled 
from Milan, as we have already said, and this naturally 
caused him to break away from Visconti. 

Events in Como soon gave William a chance of aiming 
a blow at his former ally. 

The traveller who from the Saint Gothard railway 
looks down at the present day at the cheerful little town, 
nestling peacefully between the hills at the extremity of 
its blue lake, finds it hard to realise the fierce passions 
which distracted Como in the Middle Ages and the 
warlike inclinations of its inhabitants. For some years 
the Rusconi had ruled the city as allies of Visconti and 
Montferrat ; now discord arose among the Rusconi them- 
selves, and William saw in it a chance of revenge on 
Visconti. The escape from Barradello of one of the 
captive Delia Torre, evidently with the connivance of 
some of the Rusconi, was the first evidence of the new 
state of affairs. Soon the mask was plainly thrown off. 
The surviving Torriani — two had died of the rigours of 
their imprisonment — were released ; Como became the 
headquarters of the Delia Torre family, and at once 
entered into war against Milan. 

We must feel surprised at the boldness with which 
small towns such as Como ventured to embark in war 
against vastly more powerful neighbours. But in reality 
the risks were not so very great. The strongly walled 
cities of the time were almost impregnable against assault. 
At any rate, we scarcely ever find examples of any such 
attempt in the Italian warfare of the time. In all proba- 
bility the undisciplined city levies were not of any use for 
such purposes Famine, then, was the only means — 
omitting treachery — of reducing a walled town. But 
until the introduction in the next age of standing mer- 
cenary forces, it was quite beyond the power of one city, 



GUELFS AND GHIBELLINES 371 

even if as great as Milan, to completely blockade another. 
The merchants and artisans who formed the bulk of the 
infantry could not remain in the field long enough to 
starve out a neighbouring town, without utter ruin to 
their business at home. Hence warfare between two 
cities at this period usually meant a series of raids on one 
another's territory, until one or both grew tired of the 
devastation suffered, and a peace of some kind was 
patched up. 

The war which now ensued between William of Mont- 
ferrat and the Visconti ran the usual course. The country 
parts were devastated, truces were arranged for longer or 
shorter intervals ; more than once peace was made, to be 
broken almost immediately. Nothing, in fact, can be 
more tedious than the story of the campaigns of this 
period. The main principle of strategy was not so much 
to attempt to overthrow one's enemy in a pitched battle. 
It was rather to avoid anything like a decisive engage- 
ment ; generals relied more on diplomacy than on arms 
to achieve any considerable success. 

In this war we find a rather puzzling mixture of parties. 
The Visconti were helped by the Guelf towns of Piacenza, 
Cremona, and Brescia; on the other side was Montferrat 
with the towns Alessandria, Como, Novara, Tortona, 
Vercelli, Ivrea, and other smaller ones which he ruled 
partly by the support of the Guelfs, partly of the Ghibel- 
lines, and the Guelf Delia Torre. In 1289 matters seemed 
about to come to a decisive issue. Asti and Pavia, no 
longer subject to William, had joined the party of 
Visconti, and the combined Milanese and Pavesans drew 
out to protect the latter city from a threatened attack. 
Pavia had for some time suffered from the usual internal 
conflicts. The people here were ardent Ghibellines ; the 
nobles, headed by the family of Langusco, turned to the 
Guelf side, and entered into negotiations with Montferrat. 
While the two armies faced one another, the Languschi 
contrived to enter the city, and proclaimed William as 
Signore. The Pavesan troops hastened home, and the 
heads of the popular faction, the Beccheria, attempted to 
secure their position by proposing to extend the term of 



372 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 



-\1 AC ■ 



William's rule from ten years, as proposed by the nobles, 
to a lifelong lordship. An attempt of the Milanese to 
seize the city in the confusion which prevailed had no 
success, and the Beccheria and their supporters found it 
prudent to take refuge in the open country, where they 
seized several castles, and helped by Milan and Piacenza 
carried on hostilities with the opposite party. 

Next year William's career came to an end as sudden 
as unexpected. The people of Asti had raised a faction 
in Alessandria unfavourable to Montferrat ; the Marquis 
hastened to the latter city to suppress the disaffection. 
The people suddenly rose against him. His heavy 
cavalry were useless in the narrow streets, he himself was 
captured and imprisoned in an iron cage, where in less 
than two years he died from shame and suffering. 
Readers of the "Purgatorio" will remember that Sordello 
shows to Dante in Canto VII. William the Marquis 

"who occasion lent 
To Alexandria that fell war to move 
The Canavese and Montferrat lament."' 

The fall of William of Montferrat gave an immense 
increase to the power of Visconti. Novara and Vercelli 
chose Matteo Visconti, Otto's nephew, now the leader of 
the family, as lord for five years. In Como the Vitani 
rose against the Rusconi ; and the latter, too weak to 
stand alone, called Matteo to their help. In 1292 he 
was made Captain of the People for five years, and seems 
to have ruled wisely, pacifying the rival factions. The 
young Marquis of Montferrat, Giovanni, was forced in 
order to save his dominions, threatened by Asti, Ales- 
sandria, and Savoy, to put himself under Matteo's 
guardianship ; and Alessandria, still torn by factions, 
sought peace by choosing the ruler of Milan as Captain. 
From this period we may date the greatness of the House 
of Visconti.2 

• Wright's translation. 

= The Beccheria recovered Pavia, so that city became allied to 
Milan. In 1299 the Languscchi again got the upper hand. 



GUELFS AND GHIBELLINES 373 

The next few years were, on the whole, years of quiet 
in Central Lombardy. The Visconti strengthened their 
position by obtaining from Adolph of Nassau, then 
German king, the title of Imperial Vicar. But Matteo, 
cleverer than the Delia Torre, pretended to accept the 
office only at the petition of the Council of the city. 
At the same time he was re-elected for five years as 
Captain of the People. ^ 

Peace was broken for a time by a fresh attempt of the 
Torriani to recover their power, aided by Lodi and Cre- 
mona. The people of Lodi were soon forced to ask for 
peace, and the Torriani retired again from Lombardy. 

More important was a quarrel between Padua and the 
Marquis of Este. Parma, Piacenza and Bologna, all 
Guelf cities, joined in attacking the Marquis. The old 
unity of the Guelf party was destroyed, and Bologna was 
brought into relations with the Visconti, who were allies 
of Parma and Piacenza. 

In the meantime the Marquis Giovanni of Montferrat 
was growing up, and was eager to take up the quarrel of 
his house with the Visconti. He found an ally in Pavia, 
once more under the rule of the Guelf faction headed by 
the Count of Langusco. Aided by the Marquis of Saluzzo, 
he had captured and sacked Asti in 1296. Three years 
later he recovered Casale, and expelled the Ghibellines 
from Novara and Vercelli. A great league was now 
formed against the Visconti, in which Bergamo, Crema, 
Cremona, and Este joined. But Matteo was helped not 
only by the Ghibelline La Scala, but also by Parma 
Brescia, Piacenza, and Bologna. His skilful diplomacy 
brought about a breach among his opponents, and the 
league came to nothing. Peace was made towards the 
end of 1299, and was cemented by a marriage between 
Matteo's son Galeazzo and Beatrice, sister of Azzo of 
Este. The greater part of Lombardy was now under 
the control of men who, while gaining power as heads 
of one party or the other, were for the moment all in 

' Matteo carefully preserved the semblance of popular rule. His 
office of Captain of the People was prolonged from time to time by 
popular vote. 



374 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

alliance. The next year passed without any conflict of 
importance. 

Both Este and Visconti appear during the last ten years 
of this century in a curious double relation to the Guelf 
and Ghibelline parties. Azzo VIII. of Este, though a 
supporter of the Delia Torre, was at war with the Guelf 
Padua, Parma, and Bologna. He allied himself with the 
Ghibellines of Romagna and the exiled Lambertazzi, and 
with their help gained a great victory over Bologna in 
1296. Against Padua he was less successful. The old 
seat of his family, Este, was captured by the Paduans, as 
well as his other fortresses in the Euganean hills, and by 
treaty in or about 1294 he resigned to Padua his posses- 
sions north of the Adige. 

The Visconti, both Otto, who died in 1295, and his 
nephew and successor, Matteo, were in close alliance 
with Parma and Piacenza, where the Guelfs were 
supreme, and with the Rangoni and other Guelf families 
of Modena who were now in exile. 

During these years Pavia had been steadily declining 
in power. In the early days of the Visconti rule in Milan 
we find the two old rivals leagued together, one may say 
for the first time, and at war with Cremona, now the bul- 
wark of the Guelfs. But soon factions between nobles 
and people, for a long time smouldering, broke out with 
violence ; the nobles were expelled once and again, and 
sought aid from the Guelfs ; the people, headed by the 
Beccheria, were supported by Milan. We have seen how 
this led to the capture of the city by Montferrat in 1289. 

The old enemies of Pavia the Piacentines seized the 
chance, under pretext of aiding the Beccheria then in 
exile, of inflicting great damage on their rivals. They 
wasted the territory, took many castles, and in one raid 
went so far as to seize the wooden bridge across the 
Ticino, the predecessor of the present picturesque roofed 
structure from which the visitor enjoys such a charming 
view of the old city, and towed it off down the river, 
meaning to set it up as a trophy in Piacenza. After 
dragging the bridge twelve miles they had to abandon 
it, and the Pavesans, unable to tow it home, burned it. 




The Castle of Este. 



re 374- 



GUELFS AND GHIBELLINES 375 

Weakened by foes external and internal, the city seems 
now to have steadily declined, and from the rival to have 
become a mere satellite of Milan. It is hard to account 
for this decay : the situation is suited for commerce, the 
territory subject to the city was large and fertile. Milan, 
however, was more of an industrial centre ; Pavia drew 
its wealth in great measure from agriculture. Constant 
warfare, with its accompanying depredations, would 
inflict more lasting damage on agriculturists, who would 
lose all their possessions in one raid, ^ than it would on 
a population living by their manufactures, in the shelter 
of the city walls. Even in the most troubled times out- 
lets for manufactures would still be open ; and as cities 
at this period were scarcely ever taken by force the 
artisan and merchant had only to dread civil war. Milan 
was on the whole free from this during the later thirteenth 
century ; Pavia, on the other hand, suffered severely. 

One can hardly imagine a greater contrast than that 
which presents itself at the present day when we take the 
train that in half an hour conducts us from Milan to 
Pavia. We pass from the bustling streets, the incessant 
clang of tram bells, the magnificent shops, the four 
hundred thousand people of the Manchester of Italy to 
a quiet country town, set about with trees, which seems 
to sleep by the side of its river. The streets are silent, 
almost deserted ; everything speaks of repose. In one 
corner rise three gaunt, ungainly medieval towers, a relic 
of the days when Pavia boasted three hundred such, the 
pride and defence of her noble families, when there were 
more than one hundred and thirty churches within the 
walls, when the city could send out to war two or three 
thousand horse and fifteen thousand foot, when Messer 
Torello d' Istria feasted the Saladin.^ 

There is still one great hour reserved for Pavia. Like 
her sister Ghibelline cities Pisa and Siena, Pavia when 
power had slipped away from her at least knew how to 

' The territory of Pavia suffered dreadfully from the ravages of 
the Piacentines in 1290. Finally, the Beccheria were restored and 
peace was made (" Chronicon Parmense," Muratori, vol. ix.). 

^ Boccaccio, novella 99. 



376 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

die. Not hers the slow century long decay of Lucca, 
the tame sinking into slavery of Milan, the struggles, half 
frenzied half heroic, of Florence against the impending 
tyrants' yoke. When her time was come, when the knell 
of her freedom sounded, her citizens, men and women, 
stood forth and manned their walls as long as strength 
would last. They had to yield to unequal odds ; but at 
least they might say with the king whose name is for 
ever coupled with their city, "Tout est perdu fors 
I'honneur." 

But at the end of the thirteenth century every city, 
prosperous or declining, Guelf or Ghibelline, was 
threatened by the steady approach of an apparently 
irresistible fate. In each we see looming up the figure 
of the Tyrant. 



CHAPTER XIII 

THE RISE OF THE TYRANNIES — THE COMING OF 
HENRY OF LUXEMBURG 

We have seen more than once in the last chapter how 
some cities, to protect themselves from outside attack, or 
to secure internal peace, or else how a dominant faction 
to strengthen itself against its rivals, had entrusted for 
a longer or shorter period the supreme direction of affairs 
to one man. Such a head of the state, whether he held 
the office of Podesta, or of Captain of the People, or of 
leader in war, is constantly spoken of under the title 
of Signore or Lord, and his rule is called Lordship — 
Signoria. 

Originally elected by the free choice of the people or a 
section of them, the invariable tendency of such a ruler 
was to gather all power into his hands, to dispense with 
popular approval, to prolong his term of office for life, and 
finally to transmit to his descendants the dominion he 
had thus acquired. The constitutional Signore shakes off 
all restraints and becomes the Despot. 

The years remaining to be dealt with by our history are 
chiefly taken up with the extinction of all republican 
liberties in the Lombard cities. It will be well, then, to 
give here a brief survey of the rise of the despots during 
the later years of the thirteenth century. 

Symonds has entitled the first volume of his " Renais- 
sance in Italy " the "Age of the Despots," and has drawn 
in it a vivid picture of the Italian tyrants of the fourteenth 
and fifteenth centuries. He gives them the name of 
tyrants, using the word in its Greek sense ; for as he says : 
" Their title was illegitimate — based, that is to say, on no 

377 



378 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

feudal principle, derived in no regular manner from the 
Empire, but generally held as a gift or extorted as a prize 
from the predominant parties in the great towns." 

He distinguishes between six sorts of these despots. 
But two of these, the Condottieri or leaders of hired 
soldiers, and the nephews or sons of Popes, do not appear 
in Lombardy until the fifteenth century, and a third — 
wealthy citizens who gradually enslaved their country by 
the power of their riches — only appears in isolated cases 
in Lombardy. 

His first class comprises feudal princes ruling over 
their dominions by hereditary right. Examples of this 
are the sway of the House of Savoy in Turin and Aosta, 
of the Marquises of Montferrat in Casale, of the Marquises 
of Este in Este and the district between Padua and Ferrara, 
to which latter city they soon extended their rule. But 
these rulers, few in number, cannot properly be called 
tyrants. They ruled by legitimate hereditary right ; and 
it is to be remarked that their history is for the most part 
unsullied by the crimes which stain the annals of the 
other despotic rulers over Lombardy. 

The two remaining classes as given by Symonds really 
embrace nearly all the rulers of Lombardy. They are 
first "those nobles who obtained the title of Vicars of the 
Empire, and built an illegal power upon the basis of 
Imperial right in Lombardy " ; and second " Nobles (who) 
charged with military or judicial power, as Capitani or 
Podestas, by the free burghs, used their authority to 
enslave the cities they were chosen to administer." Here 
we must observe that there was no real difference between 
these two classes. The Visconti, whom he cites as 
examples of the first, obtained supreme power in Milan 
as leaders of the aristocratic faction, before ever they 
received the title of Imperial Vicar. Besides, these rulers 
were by no means all nobles. The Delia Scala in par- 
ticular seem to have been of very low origin. 

We can perhaps improve on Symonds by saying that 
despotism arose from supreme power being entrusted 
to one man, either a powerful citizen, or less often a 
foreigner, either to conduct a foreign war, or to secure 



THE RISE OF THE TYRANNIES 379 

the predominance of one faction in the state, or — a very 
frequent case — to impose peace on contending parties. 
" The fount of honour, so to speak, was in the citizens of 
these great burghs. Therefore, when the Hmits of 
authority delegated to their Captains by the people were 
overstepped, the sway of the princes became confessedly 
illegal. Illegality carried with it all the consequences of 
an evil conscience, all the insecurities of usurped 
dominion, all the danger from without and from within 
to which an arbitrary Governor is exposed." Symonds 
goes on to point out that " despotism in Italy as in 
ancient Greece was democratic. It recruited its ranks 
from all classes and erected its thrones upon the sove- 
reignty of the peoples it oppressed." 

We must remember, however, and so remembering 
may explain the ease with which despotism established 
itself, that the tyrant at least gave internal tranquillity. 
Horrible as were the crimes of Bernabo or Filippo Maria 
Visconti, it is doubtful if they caused as widespread ruin 
as did the expulsion of twelve thousand people from 
Bologna by the victorious Guelfs in 1274, or the ten 
violent revolutions, each accompanied by massacre, 
pillage, and arson, which took place in Ferrara in the 
space of forty years. 

Ferrari brings out clearly the dominant note in the 
character of the first Italian despots. "A party leader, 
soldier in a perpetual war, proscriber and devastator by 
necessity, he takes his rise at the moment of massacres, 
when palaces are rased by hundreds, when the city bell 
tower rings out the death of fugitives, when the goods of 
one-half of the citizens are confiscated, when war growing 
more fierce requires the victorious party to be disciplined 
more and more, steady in its ranks, one in its movements, 
and above all subject to a single head." ^ 

A recent work by Salzer, " The Commencements of 
Despotic Rule in Upper Italy," gives a clear and 
comprehensive account of the manner in which the 
rule of one man substituted itself for the older free 
institutions. According to him it was above all the 
' " Revolutions d' Italic," vol. iii. p. 4. 



380 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

need for restoring order in communities torn by party 
strife that led to the concentration of all power in 
the hands of one person. But this ruler could only 
attain his end at first by standing forward as champion 
of one faction. "The first Signori attained power as 
leaders of one party, and were able to maintain them- 
selves only by the complete overthrow of the opposite 
side." I It is later on, when their authority rests on a 
firm basis, that the despots appear as fairly impartial 
rulers. At first they secure peace by the destruction of 
all opposed to their own faction. 

Salzer traces the growth of despotism from four 
republican offices. They are that of Podesta of the 
Commune, that of Podesta of the Merchants, that of 
Captain or Ancient of the People — an office closely 
connected with the preceding — finally that of War- 
captain. These offices, originally all annual, began to 
be granted for a term of years, then for life, finally 
they were made hereditary, and all restrictions on their 
functions removed. The Signore also tried to legitimise 
his power by obtaining the title of Imperial or Papal 
Vicar ; and, last step of all, came the grant of the 
title of Duke or Marquis with a regular feudal investi- 
ture by Emperor or Pope of his dominions, thus 
admitting the despot into the circle of the legitimate 
princes of the Empire. 

Ferrara offers us the earliest example of a city coming 
under the rule of one man. Although the document 
which professes to record the grant of the hereditary 
and unlimited lordship of the city to Azzo VI. of Este 
in 1208 is most probably a forgery of later date, yet 
Ferrara seems to have been governed between 1195 and 
1 21 2 by Azzo and his rival, Salinguerra Torelli, in turn, 
according as one faction or the other obtained the upper 
hand in the much-distracted city. These leaders either 
held the office of Podesta themselves, or conferred it 
on one of their followers, while themselves keeping 
the real power. For a time, then, Salinguerra and Azzo's 
son and successor, Aldrovandino, divided the govern- 
' Salzer, "tjber die Anfange der Signorie in Oberitalien," p, 26. 



THE RISE OF THE TYRANNIES 381 

ment and together appointed the Podesta. Aldrovandino 
died in 1215 ; and thenceforth Salinguerra ruled, with 
some interruptions, till 1240. He seems to have held 
no municipal office during these years, contenting him- 
self with the substance of power, directing the foreign 
policy of Ferrara, and selecting the Podesta and other 
officials. Later generations looked back to his rule as 
a golden age, when no direct taxes were necessary, when 
the surplus revenue was divided monthly among the 
burghers, when the rich and Salinguerra himself sold 
corn at nominal prices to the poor in times of scarcity. 
No doubt Salinguerra based his rule on the support 
of the lower orders, which he won by depressing some 
at least of the nobles. 

The wild struggles in the Trevisan Mark produced 
the tyranny of EzzeHno. From 1236 to 1259 he ruled 
Verona, and from this city, as we have seen, extended 
his dominions over the whole Mark. His power, too, 
seems to have rested on popular support — the people 
in Verona were strongly Ghibellinei; he filled no office 
himself, but appointed the magistrates, and seems to have 
introduced democratic modifications into the constitu- 
tion. The other cities of the Mark he subdued by 
force of arms, and his authority was strengthened 
when Frederick H. made him his representative in the 
whole district — without, however, giving him the title 
of Imperial Vicar. He ruled de facto not de jure; his 
power was maintained by the terror inspired by his 
cruelties, and fell to pieces when these cruelties had 
drawn on him the general execration of his neighbours 
as well as of his subjects. 

Salinguerra fell in 1240 before a combined attack by 
the Guelf league of "seventeen cities that uphold the 
Pope," and Azzo VH., brother of Aldrovandino of Este, 
succeeded in his stead. He ruled for the most part 
as Podesta, re-elected from year to year, no doubt by 
the influence of the now victorious Guelfs ; but in some 
years he contented himself with directing affairs as 
a private person, designating others as Podesta. On his 
death in 1264 he named his grandson Obizzo as heir 



382 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

to his power, and this grandson, still a boy, was unani- 
mously chosen by Podesta, Council, and popular assembly 
as hereditary "governor and ruler and general and 
perpetual lord " of Ferrara and its territory. Ferrara 
had definitely resigned her freedom. 

Shortly before the downfall of Ezzelino the perilous 
situation of the Ghibelline cities of Central Lombardy 
had forced Piacenza, Pavia, and Vercelli to elect Oberto 
Pelavicini as perpetual Podesta and Lord, while Cremona 
was jointly ruled by him as Podesta of the Commune, 
and Buoso da Doara as Podesta of the Merchants. 
We have already traced the career and downfall of 
these rulers. 

About the same time the people of Parma, weary of 
the struggle between the Guelf nobles in the city and 
the Ghibelline nobles in the country, conferred on a 
certain Ghiberto da Gente the offices of Podesta of the 
Commune, of the Merchants and of the People. At 
first this was to be only for five years, but Ghiberto 
soon contrived to have this term extended to ten, and 
a few days later he was made lifelong Podesta, Rector 
and Lord of the city, with right to transmit his power 
to his heirs. As well as Parma he brought Reggio 
under his sway, but only for a year or two. From 
Parma itself he was expelled in 1259, after a reign of 
only six years, and the republican form of government 
was restored. 

All these despots, with the exception of the Estensi, 
were Ghibellines, and all except the Estensi failed to 
transmit their power to their descendants. 

But already in 1251, after a conflict in Lodi, in which 
the Milanese aided the Guelfs, while Cremona and 
Piacenza sided with the Ghibellines, the former people 
being victorious had ordered that Succio dei Vistarini 
and his kinsmen — leaders of the Guelfs — should rule 
the society of the people in Lodi for the next ten 
years and longer at the people's wish. A few years after- 
wards, as we have seen, Martino della Torre established 
himself as ruler of Milan with the office of Ancient or 
Podesta of the People for a term of years. The Torriani 



THE RISE OF THE TYRANNIES 383 

now ruled Milan, as already described, for eighteen 
years, and in that time established their authority over 
several of the neighbouring towns. In these two cases 
we have not so much the rule of a single man as 
that of a dominant family, by ability or influence the 
head of the prevailing faction. The head of this family 
appears as ruler of the city ; but the republican form 
of government is maintained in theory at least, and 
the offices are probably divided among the members 
or close friends of the leading house. 

So we find Como under the Vitani or the Rusconi, 
Pavia under the Beccheria or Languschi, according as 
one faction or the other gains the upper hand. Here 
we have a second step in the evolution of despotism — 
the rule of -one family rather than of one man ; and 
many of these families contrive to retain power for 
considerable periods. 

The third step shows us leaders who rise to power, not 
so much by the aid of any one party, or by force, as by 
intriguing with all parties indifferently. They place their 
own interests before that of party, put an end to faction, 
base their power, in appearance at least, on popular favour, 
and, as a rule, transmit it to their heirs. 

Ghiberto da Gente is the earliest example of this class, 
and we might include in it Otto Visconti. It is true that 
he got possession of Milan as leader of the Ghibelline 
nobles ; but his advent was followed by no proscription 
of the Guelfs ; and for a great part of his career he was 
allied with Guelf Piacenza and Cremona. 

So in 1275 Mantua, after an unusually blood-stained 
series of convulsions, came under the dominion of Pina- 
monte Bonaccolsi, who first aided the Count of San 
Bonifazio to expel the Marquis of Este, then drove out 
San Bonifazio by the aid of the Count of Marcharia, and 
finally expelled the latter and got himself chosen for life 
as Captain of the People. Once in possession of the city 
he ruled as a Ghibelline. His descendants ruled Mantua 
for over fifty years. Modena and Reggio, utterly exhausted 
by civil war, gave themselves, in 1288 and 1290, to the 
House of Este. The House of Este was Guelf ; but in 



384 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

Modena it was the Guelfs, in Reggio the Ghibellines, who 
were responsible for the surrender of the city's Hberty ; 
and in both cases the first act of the new lord was to 
recall the exiles and enforce a general pacification. 
Piacenza, which had been free since Oberto's overthrow, 
was induced in 1290 to choose Alberto Scotto, who 
had skilfully made use of the disgust excited by an 
unsuccessful campaign against Pavia to throw contempt 
on the existing government, as lord, with the title of 
" Perpetual Ancient, Protector and Defender of the 
Commune and People." 

The attempt of William of Monferrat to found a 
dominion based on the office of War-captain, and in- 
volving the reconciliation of all factions, met with no 
success. In Romagna and Tuscany, however, many 
lordships of greater or less duration took their rise in 
the necessities of war which forced cities to confer 
supreme power on some capable soldier. 

One cause of the ease with which republican institu- 
tions yielded to despotism lay in the change which had 
come about in military matters. The main force of 
an army became more and more concentrated in the 
heavy cavalry during the thirteenth century. Armour 
was made heavier and more impenetrable ; finally, horse 
and rider were completely ensheathed in steel, and no 
infantry had yet learned how to withstand the shock of 
their charge. 

But to manage a war-horse, support the heavy armour, 
and wield the lance of the mail-clad rider required the 
training of a lifetime. The merchants and artisans who 
had at one time formed the mainstay of the burgher 
armies became utterly useless ; the towns had to fall back 
on the nobles who had leisure and inclination for military 
exercises, and on the professional soldiers who begin at 
this time to make their appearance in Italy. A leader of 
such soldiers — men whom he had hired by his wealth, or 
who were his hereditary vassals — found himself im- 
mensely powerful and courted by all the cities who 
needed his services. It was precisely as leaders of this 
nature that Oberto and Buoso and William of Montferrat 



THE RISE OF THE TYRANNIES 38S 

so rapidly brought city after city under their rule ; it was 
by employing their revenues to support such troops that 
the later despots so easily maintained their position. If 
driven from a city, their cavalry made them masters of 
the open country, and famine would soon cause the 
recalcitrant citizens to readmit their former masters. 

To make our survey of the rise of the despots complete 
we must return to the affairs of the Trevisan Mark. Amid 
the general jubilation at the overthrow of Ezzelino, hopes 
were entertained of lasting peace and freedom. But the 
Guelf exiles who came back to Verona with the Count of 
San Bonifazio soon came into collision with the mass of 
the people, who here were strongly Ghibelline in sym- 
pathy. We may remember, indeed, that Ezzelino had 
made constitutional changes that favoured the people. A 
few months after Ezzelino's death the Guelfs were expelled 
again ^ ; and Mastino della Scala, a member of a family of 
low origm^ who had acquired an influential position 
under the late tyrant, was chosen as Podesta del Popolo. 
Frequent tumults fill the next ten years ; but through 
them all Mastino maintained his ascendancy, sometimes 
holding office as Podesta of the People, sometimes 
as Podesta of the Merchants, more often, it would seem, 
governing as Ezzelino had done, without holding any 
special magistracy. He was assassinated by a band of 
conspirators in 1277 in the dark archway, still called the 
Volto Barbaro, which leads from the Piazza dei Signori 
to the Piazza delle Erbe. But he had established himself 
so firmly in the affections of the citizens that on the very 
next day the assembly of the people chose his brother 
Albert as Captain of the People for life. A fearful 
vengeance was taken on the murderers ; and from this 
on the House of La Scala ruled Verona for more than a 
hundred years. After Mantua came under the Bonaccolsi, 
it and Verona formed a Ghibelline faction in the Mark 

' Count Lionisio or Ludovico di San Bonifazio was expelled from 
Verona in 1260, returned in 1263, was again driven out in same year, 
and never returned. 

^ The first of the name is said to have made ladders, scale in 
Italian (G. Villani quoted by Cipolla). 

25 



386 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

in constant antagonism to Padua and the Marquis of 
Este. 

A few years after Vicenza had been rescued from 
EzzeHno's tyranny a GhibelHne party sprang up among 
the nobles. Expelled from the city, they seized on a 
large part of the Contado, and so harassed their oppo- 
nents that these saw themselves forced to offer the 
overlordship of Vicenza to the Paduans. While re- 
taining internal freedom, the city received its Podesta 
from Padua, and followed the lead of that Commune 
in external affairs. 

Treviso was torn by the rivalry of the GhibelHne 
Castelli with the Guelfs, headed by the Da Camino. 
The former, in 1268, massacred thirty of the opposite 
faction, drove out the Bishop, and set up Gherardo 
Castelli as ruler. The next years were full of confusion, 
until Gherardo da Camino, supported by the Bishop, 
made himself master of the city. This was in 1283. 
In subsequent years he extended his rule to Belluno 
and Feltre. He was a wise and clement ruler, respected 
even by his enemies ; and, almost alone of Italian despots, 
has won the approval of Dante, who speaks of him, 
without any farther surname, as the "Good Gherardo." 

We have now reached the period when 

" . . . Le terre d' Italia tutte piene 
Son di tiranni, ed un Marcel diventa 
Ogni villan che parteggiando viene."' 

Dante puts the date of his vision in 1300 ; and it will 
not be without interest to take a general survey of the 
condition of Lombardy during the ten years or so im- 
mediately preceding this date. 

Matteo Visconti held Milan, Vercelli, and Novara ; 
Como, under the Rusconi, was once again entirely 
devoted to him ; Pavia supported or opposed him 
according as the Beccheria, or their rivals the Counts 
of Langusco, gained the upper hand. Botticella Bonac- 
colsi ruled Mantua,^ Alberto della Scala Verona. These 

' " Purgatorio," Canto VI. 

= In 1299 Bardelone and Taino Bonaccolsi were expelled from 



THE RISE OF THE TYRANNIES 387 

despots were all Ghibelline, but we must notice that 
Matteo Visconti, following Otto's example, was not averse 
to allying himself with the Guelfs. The Guelf Parma, 
still free, and Alberto Scotto, the Guelf lord of Piacenza, 
were on friendly terms with Visconti. 

Of Guelf despots, besides Alberto Scotto, we find 
VenturinoBenzoniin Crema, Antonio Fisiragain Lodi; the 
House of Camino heldTreviso, Feltre, and Belluno, which 
last two passed in 1299 to the Scaligers. The Marquis of 
Este was master of Ferrara, Reggio, and Modena ; and 
he, too, was not averse to an alliance with the Visconti. 
Brescia was ruled by its Bishop,^ of a Guelf family, 
the Maggi, but himself inclining towards the opposite 
side. 

The Marquis Giovanni of Montferrat, a strong opponent 
of Visconti, was lord of Asti, where he seems to have 
ruled by the help of the Ghibellines. The smaller towns 
of Piedmont, Alba, Chieri, Cuneo, and Mondovi were 
under King Charles of Naples ; Turin was under the 
House of Savoy. 

Of cities that still preserved their freedom we find, 
south of the Po, Tortona, Parma, and Bologna, the 
former Ghibelline, the others Guelf. Padua, now as 
ever, Guelf, was still free, and held its old enemy 
Vicenza. 

Finally, Bergamo, Guelf on the whole, but torn by 
factions, and Cremona, Guelf and apparently more 
tranquil, make up, with Alessandria on the same side, 
the tale of cities not yet subject to one-man rule.^ 

Mantua by their nephews, who bore the curious nicknames Botti- 
cella. Passerine, and Butirone. 

' The Brescian Guelfs expelled four other factions in 1295 or 1296. 
The exiles were recalled in 1298, and the Bishop was made ruler for 
five years. In 1303 he expelled the leading Guelf family, the Brusati, 
and the Griffi, formerly the leading Ghibellines. Henceforth he 
ruled as a Ghibelline in external affairs, but with the support of all 
parties in the city, till his death in 1308. 

= In Bergamo the Soardi, Coleoni, Rivoli, and Bonghi fought for 
supremacy. In 1296 the Ghibelline Soardi expelled the Coleoni. 
The latter returned at the end of two months, and with the aid of 
the other two expelled the Soardi. In 1301 the Soardi were joined 



388 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

It must be remembered that many of these early 
despots were wise and beneficent rulers. They estab- 
lished and. preserved internal tranquillity, and did much 
for the material welfare of the citizens. The lord of 
Brescia, Bishop Maggi, promoted industry, especially the 
woollen manufacture, and surrounded the city with new 
walls. He governed impartially, was " mild, cautious, 
sober, sparing, firm in his designs." 

Alberto della Scala improved the navigation of the 
Adige, also supported the woollen industry, and intro- 
duced the cultivation of the mulberry. Even the first 
of the Bonaccolsi, pitiless towards his rivals among the 
nobles, was a just ruler of the rest of the population, and 
attended carefully to their well-being. 

With all this the position of none of the despots was 
secure. Except the Estensi, none of the ruling families 
had held power during half a century. In many cases 
the Signore had been given the government only for a 
term of years. In almost all the cities the spirit of 
republican independence still survived. The power of 
the Signore often depended on the predominance in the 
Commune of a particular faction, opposed to which was 
another faction having at its head a rival claimant to 
lordship, waiting until some turn of events should give 
him and his partisans the mastery. 

This instability in the position of the Signori is strik- 
ingly shown by the sudden downfall of the two most 
powerful of the ruling families — the Estensi and the 
Visconti. 

We have already noticed the blotting out of the sharp 
lines of demarcation between Guelfs and Ghibellines in 
the case of these two families. Matteo Visconti had re- 
pulsed the last great attack of the Torriani largely by 
Guelf aid, and had cemented his position immediately 
afterwards by the marriage of his son Galeazzo with 
Beatrice, sister of the Marquis of Este. This marriage, 

by the Coleoni, Visconti was called to their help, and the Bonghi 
and Rivoli were driven out. They returned in 1302, and Alberto 
Scotto became Signore. He lost the city next year, and in 1304 the 
Guelf Bonghi and Rivoli expelled the Soardi and Coleoni. 



THE RISE OF THE TYRANNIES 389 

which seemed to strengthen his position, led, however, 
to his overthrow. Alberto Scotto of Piacenza had been 
promised the hand of Beatrice for his son ; and, finding 
himself supplanted by his ally Matteo, he organised a 
new league against the Visconti. He found helpers in 
Filippone Langusco of Pavia and the Marquis of Mont- 
ferrat. Novara, Vercelli, and Alessandria, all under the 
influence of the Marquis, the Guelf lords of Lodi and 
Crema, Cremona and even the Ghibelline Rusconi of 
Como united in recalling the Delia Torre from Friuli. 
Early in 1302 the allies invaded the Milanese territory. 
In Milan itself signs of a revolt were apparent, and Matteo 
was forced to leave a considerable force under his son 
Galeazzo to hold the city. He himself with the rest of 
his troops and auxiliaries from Parma and Bergamo 
advanced against his enemies. 

He found them superior in numbers ; provisions began 
to fail him ; disquieting reports as to the state of Milan 
reached him. He did not dare to stake all his fortunes on 
a battle, but sent to treat with his adversaries, and offered 
to abide by the award of Alberto Scotto, whom he still 
believed to be his friend. The conditions imposed were 
that he should renounce for himself and family the lord- 
ship of Milan, readmit the exiles, and restore their lands 
to the Torriani. Matteo submitted to these demands, 
resigned his authority and disbanded his forces. Then 
Alberto, throwing off all pretence of friendship, seized on 
him as a prisoner, and only released him on his surren- 
dering the castle of San Colombano. Galeazzo withdrew 
with his mercenaries to Ferrara ; the Torriani entered 
Milan ; the populace rose and sacked the houses of the 
Visconti, and all the members of the family were forced 
to leave the city. 

The fall of the Visconti made the Guelfs supreme in all 
Central Lombardy. The Ghibellines were expelled from 
Bergamo, which passed under the rule of Alberto Scotto, 
as did Tortona. The Rusconi of Como gained no advan- 
tage by their treachery to the GhibeUine cause. The 
Guelf party rose, and in the fighting that followed 
Corrado Ruscone, the head of that family, was killed. 



390 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

The whole family of the Rusconi were expelled, and 
the Vitani became supreme in Como. 

The Ghibelline party, however, was by no means extin- 
guished. The Visconti found support in Mantua and 
Verona ; a sudden revolution in Parma ranged that city 
decisively on the Ghibelline side ; Alessandria also 
changed sides. Alberto Scotto, betraying all parties in 
turn, broke with the Torriani, who had foiled his efforts 
to become master of Milan. In September, 1303, Matteo 
Visconti was able to lead eight hundred horse and six 
thousand foot into the Milanese. Next year the Solarii 
of Asti drove out the Castelli, who had ruled by the help 
of the Marquis of Montferrat. The Solarii were Guelfs, 
but their fear of Montferrat led them to side with 
Visconti. The summer of 1304 saw two opposing leagues 
of Guelfs and Ghibellines in conflict in the territories of 
Parma and Piacenza. 

More startling was the change in the attitude of 
Bologna. The majority of the Ghibelline exiles had 
been restored to that city by the peace made in 1299 
with the Marquis of Este. Visconti and Delia Scala 
had had a large part in arranging this restoration, and 
thus had acquired an influence in the city. In 1301 
Bologna had made an alliance with Visconti, and with 
its former enemies Imola, Faenza, and Forli. This 
change in the relations of Bologna is explained by the 
long-standing quarrel between it and Modena. The 
latter city being subject to the Marquis of Este, he be- 
came the natural enemy of Bologna ; and as the House 
of Este, in spite of a temporary rapprochement with the 
Visconti, was the traditional head of the Guelf party in 
the districts round the lower course of the Po, it was 
inevitable that a quarrel with him would strengthen the 
hands of the Ghibelline faction in the city. 

Two parties now appear in Bologna — the strict Guelfs 
in favour of an alliance with Este and the renunciation 
of all designs in Modena, and the restored exiles who 
were supported by all who wished to pursue the old feud 
with their western neighbour. In 1303 the latter party 
were strong enough to expel many of the leading parti- 



THE RISE OF THE TYRANNIES 391 

sans of Este, on the pretext that they wished to give the 
lordship of the city to the Marquis. For the next few 
years Bologna, though nominally Guelf, is allied in 
foreign affairs with the Ghibellines. 

The renewed alliance between Alberto Scotto and the 
Visconti led to the downfall of the former. The allied 
Guelf cities had twice invaded the territory of Piacenza, 
pushing their ravages up to the walls. The burghers, ren- 
dered desperate by their losses, rose against their Signore. 
Ghiberto da Correggio, the ruler of Parma, hurried with 
all his forces as if to the help of his brother despot. He 
perfidiously advised Alberto to withdraw to Parma ; and 
as soon as he had gone Ghiberto had himself proclaimed 
Signore by his own troops. But the Piacentines, not 
wishing to replace a native despot by a foreigner, rose in 
arms to the cry of " Popolo ! popolo ! " and expelled the 
Parmesans. The exiles were recalled ; and for a few 
years the republican institutions were restored. 

We have already had occasion to refer to Ghiberto da 
Correggio, the new ruler of Parma. Like Alberto Scotto, 
he is a good example of the despot who rose to power by 
playing off one faction against the other, and who to 
maintain and extend his power was ready to betray all 
parties in turn. 

Parma had enjoyed a long period of tranquillity under 
the rule of the Arti. But dissensions broke out afresh in 
1295. A violent quarrel arose between the Houses of 
Correggio and San Vitale ; and the former, having per- 
suaded the people that the latter were conspiring against 
the liberty of the city, were able to expel their opponents. 
With the San Vitale were exiled all who were suspected 
of Ghibelline leanings. Since that time there had been 
a chronip state of war in the Contado between the exiles, 
supported by the Marquis of Este and the ruling faction. 
Ghiberto, head of the family of Correggio, saw his oppor- 
tunity in this state of things. He came forward as the 
leader of a movement in favour of peace. This pro- 
posal nearly led to street fighting ; but finally the citizens 
were brought to consent to readmit the exiles. They 
entered with garlands on their heads and without any 



392 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

disturbance. But on the very same day, in concert 
with Ghiberto's partisans in the city, they began to run 
through the streets with the cry, " Viva, viva, il Signer 
Ghiberto ! " Ghiberto was carried into the palace of the 
Commune, the Great Council was summoned, and pro- 
claimed him lord, protector, and defender of the town. 
Commune, and people of Parma, and preserver of the 
peace with the exiles. Ghiberto had long been allied 
with the Visconti, now he began openly to declare him- 
self a Ghibelline, and the Rossi, who, with the Lupi and 
da Correggio, had been the leaders of the Guelfs, left 
the city. 

Ghiberto da Corregio soon entered into a close alliance 
with the Ghibelline lords of Mantua and Verona. These 
were traditional enemies of the House of Este. The 
marriage, in 1305, of Azzo VIII. with a daughter of the 
King of Naples caused all his neighbours to fear that the 
Estensi would attain to the same position in the eastern 
part of the Po valley that the Visconti had had in the 
centre. Ghiberto da Correggio accused the Marquis of 
supporting a conspiracy against his rule in Parma; 
Bologna, as we have seen, had fears that he was intriguing 
to get the lordship of the city. The result was a league 
of Bologna with the three despots to crush the House of 
Este. 

The main object of the confederates was to expel the 
Marquis from Reggio and Modena. The Sessi, the chief 
Ghibellines of Reggio, and the Boschetti and Rangoni, 
the leading Modenese Guelfs, were in exile, and joined 
the attacking forces. 

For a time the Marquis beat off assaults from without, 
and put down risings within the walls. But in January, 
1306, the nobles of Sassuolo suddenly called the Modenese 
to arms, and shut Este's garrison up in the castle, where 
want of food caused them to capitulate. Next day an 
equally sudden revolt restored liberty to Reggio. The 
exiles were recalled, and the liberated cities gave them- 
selves up to frenzied rejoicings. 

"Such was the joy in the city of Modena," says the 
chronicler, " that during the whole summer and winter of 



THE RISE OF THE TYRANNIES 393 

the same year the citizens and populace feasted continu- 
ally together, and the old men as well as the young men 
went about day and night singing, wearing belts of gold 
and silver, purses and crowns of flowers, and doing 
other childish things, which I doubt not displeased 
God." I 

The two cities, once more free Communes, joined the 
League against their late master. Brescia and Piacenza 
did the same.^ The people of Ferrara were, however, 
thoroughly loyal to their lord ; and though the con- 
federates pushed their ravages to the gates, they saw 
no possibility of reducing the city. A sudden and 
violent revolution in Bologna freed the Marquis from 
the most powerful of his enemies. 

The mass of the people in Bologna distrusted the 
Lambertazzi and other nobles, who by skilful diplomacy 
had recovered a great deal of influence in the state 
during the past few years. The dominant party had 
given shelter to the exiled Florentine faction, the Bianchi, 
moderate Guelfs whom circumstances had brought into 
alliance with the Ghibellines. The ruling faction in 
Florence secretly stirred up the Bolognese by the tale 
that the Lambertazzi were plotting to make Alboino della 
Scala Signore of Bologna. 

A riot of unparalleled violence followed. A howling 
mob surrounded the Palace crying, " Death to the 
traitors 1 Send down the traitors to us, or we will burn 
the Palace and kill you all !"3 Those of the supposed 
traitors who fell into their hands were torn to pieces. 
The boys cut up the bodies and carried the pieces on 
hooks to their houses. A general rising followed. The 
houses of all suspected Ghibellines were attacked and 
plundered ; many were utterly destroyed, the city was 
filled with bloodshed. The Lambertazzi, taken unawares, 

' "Chronicon Mutinense." 

= In May the Ghibelline Landi expelled the Fontana and other 
leading Guelfs from Piacenza. 

3 The Latin of the chronicle is worth giving : " Moriantur pro- 
ditores ; mittatis ipsos proditores inferius ; alias nos comburemus 
Palatium et interficiemus omnes vos." 



394 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

were unable to offer any effectual resistance. They fled 
from the city, this time never to return. 

Bologna at once made an alliance with Florence and 
the Marquis of Este. Thus strengthened, the latter was 
able to hold his own against the Ghibellines. Next year 
these turned their arms against Cremona, which had 
remained Guelf ever since the downfall of Buoso da 
Doara and Oberto Pelavicini. 

From three sides the forces of Brescia, Verona, 
and Parma entered the Cremonese territory, while the 
Mantuans pressed up the Po with a great fleet, burning 
and destroying as they passed. The Guelf cities, Milan, 
Lodi, Pavia, Piacenza (where another revolution had 
expelled the Ghibellines), hastened to the help of Cre- 
mona. So did the Marquis of Este, who fell on the 
lands of Verono and Mantua, and in a naval combat 
captured or sank all the Mantuan warships. 

Thus the fortune of war remained fairly even. It 
would seem, however, that Cremona received a blow 
from which she never recovered. Up to now she had 
held her own pretty successfully against Milan, and 
had taken the place of Pavia as the second city of 
Lombardy. Henceforth she sinks into a subordinate 
position, and her name will figure but seldom in the 
remainder of our history.^ 

His victory on the Po was the last exploit of Azzo VIII. 
of Este. His death, in January, 1308, was followed by 
the eclipse of the fortunes of his house. He had 
quarrelled with his brothers Francesco and Aldovran- 
dino, and, as a result, had made a will leaving the 
lordship of Ferrara to the young son of his illegitimate 
son Fresco. Fresco was to be regent, and on Azzo's 
death assumed the government of Ferrara. Francesco 
and his brother, who were in possession of Rovigo and 
other places, prepared to make good their claims to the 
whole lordship. 

The people of Ferrara disliked Fresco, who found 
himself compelled to invoke Venetian help and to admit 

' At this time Cremona finally lost Guastalla and Luzzara on the 
right bank of the Po. 



THE RISE OF THE TYRANNIES 395 

a Venetian garrison into the city. The neighbouring 
lords, La Scala, Bonaccolsi, the Signore of Ravenna, 
and the Commune of Bologna, all saw a chance of 
seizing on the wealthy city. The Pope, too, to whom 
the lawful Marquis of Este had appealed, thought the 
occasion favourable for establishing his direct rule in 
Ferrara. Bernardino da Polenta actually succeeded in 
entering the city, and got himself elected Signore for 
five years. He held the lordship just a week, employing 
his time in plunder. Then he found that he could not 
maintain himself and withdrew, leaving Ferrara in 
possession of the Venetians.^ 

The Pope had collected a large army in the meantime, 
which was joined by the Marquis Francesco. As soon 
as this force appeared before the gates they were thrown 
open by the people, who welcomed the Papal legate 
and the Marquis with cries of " Long live the Marquis 
Francesco ! " But Francesco, though generally a man 
of courage, kept exhorting them to cease this cry, and 
instead to shout " Long live the holy Roman Church ! " 
He had been tricked by the legate, who had promised 
to hand the city over to him if the Papal overlordship 
was first fully recognised. The Venetians still held the 
castle and poured in fresh troops. The legate showed 
no signs of handing over Ferrara to the Marquis, and 
the citizens were consequently not inclined to take a 
vigorous part in the struggle. 

At first the Venetians prevailed. The Papal forces 
had to abandon the city, which had to agree to receive 
a Podesta from Venice, and to restore the exiled Torelli 
and other Ghibelline families. The Pope renewed the 
struggle in 1309. The Venetians were excommunicated, 
and all their goods in every part of the world declared 
forfeited. The Marquis Francesco, still trusting in the 
legate's promises, was at the head of a great army 
gathered from the Guelf cities, Bologna alone furnishing 
eight thousand men. After fierce fighting around and 
inside the walls, the Papal forces were victorious. The 
Venetian fleet was cut off by a bridge thrown over the 
' The Da Polenta family ruled Ravenna, 



396 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

Po, and destroyed after a conflict in which six thousand 
of the vanquished perished. The legate entered into 
full possession of the ravaged and weakened city, and 
then handed it over to King Robert of Naples, whose 
Governors held it by means of foreign mercenaries. 

Francesco and Aldrovandino, their claims utterly dis- 
regarded, saw their dominions reduced to Rovigo and 
the adjoining districts, which they held as fiefs of the 
Empire. The former was murdered in 131 2 by Robert's 
mercenaries. For eight years the House of Este was 
reduced to obscurity. 

In the meantime the Delia Torre were supreme in 
Milan. Nominally, the republican form of government 
was observed ; the Delia Torre were merely private 
citizens. But in reality they had complete control over 
the elections to the various magistracies, as well as over 
the internal administration and the foreign policy of the 
Commune. In 1307 Guido, the head of the family, was 
elected Captain of the People for a year ; and in the 
next year this office was conferred on him for life. We 
have seen that even Matteo Visconti had never been 
elected to this office for more than five years at a time. 
This conferring of the Captaincy, which practically 
meant the lordship of the city, on Guido for his life 
may be said to mark the end of republican institutions 
in Milan. 

Guido gained a farther accession of strength in 1307 
when the Guelfs of Piacenza,i after a violent series of 
changes in the government, chose him for two years 
as " Captain, Defender, and Lord." Matte Visconti, 
finding all his efforts to shake the power of the Torriani 
useless, retired to a country house in the territory of 
Mantua. To a spy of Guido's, who asked him when 

' In 1307 Alberto Scotto and the exiled Guelfs gained a victory in 
the Contado which led to their entry into Piacenza. The Ghibellines 
fled and in their turn won a victory which forced the Guelfs to 
appeal to the Delia Torre. Alberto seems to have lost all authority. 
Delia Torre recalled the exiles in 1308. In 1309 Alberto took 
advantage of a new outbreak to expel Delia Torre's garrison. He 
then made an alliance with the Ghibelline cities, while the Landi 
got help from the Guelfs. 



THE RISE OF THE TYRANNIES 397 

he expected to be able to return to Milan, he is said 
to have answered, " Tell your master that I shall return 
when his sins surpass mine." 

During all these years Piedmont had been the theatre 
of a confused struggle in which the Counts of Savoy 
and their kinsmen, the Princes of Achaia, the Marquises 
of Montferrat and Saluzzo, the Communes of Asti and 
Alessandria, and their smaller neighbours Chieri and 
Alba all take part. A special source of conflict in this 
region was the acquisition by the Counts of Provence 
of many districts near their frontiers.^ When by the 
conquest of Naples the House of Anjou had become 
head of the Italian Guelfs, they used this position to 
increase their power in the north-west of Italy. Hence 
long wars with Montferrat and especially with Asti. The 
latter city had greatly increased in wealth and power 
during the thirteenth century, and held in Piedmont 
the same predominant position as Milan in Central 
Lombardy or Bologna in Romagna. 

We have a graphic picture of the time in the chronicle 
of Ventura, who himself played a leading part in the 
politics of his native city. He shows us the play of 
faction within the walls, in this case confined to the 
leading families. The mass of the people were ready 
to acclaim whatever faction was temporarily victorious, 
and to take the field in its favour against those who 
had lately been the masters or the allies of the Commune. 
He paints for us the hostilities which still went on in 
this part of Italy between the cities and the petty feudal 
lords who still kept their independence in the Ligurian 
Apennines. He shows us the Commune, no matter who 
ruled, always greedy to extend its territories ; now rasing 
a castle, now buying a village, now seizing on a fragment 
of Montferrat, or compelling the Marquises of Ceva 
to swear fealty. The burgher militia goes out to war, 
full of enthusiasm, but liable to attacks of panic, or, 
if in difficulties, ready to turn on its leaders with the 

' Chierasco, Savigliano, Mondovi, Cuneo, Alba were all at one 
time or another under the House of Anjou; Counts of Provence and 
Kings of Naples. 



398 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

cry, " It is your business to sell pepper, instead of 
making the people of Asti die of hunger ! " ^ 

We mark the growing inefficiency of the infantry of 
the Communes against the disciplined bodies of heavy 
cavalry which formed the main strength of the armies of 
Provence or Montferrat. 

To Ventura the evils arising from the conflict of 
factions were clearly apparent. He sees the faults of 
both sides. He had personally witnessed the destruction 
caused by discord in most of the Communes. At Verona 
he saw the ruins of the houses of all the richest and 
greatest families expelled by the Scaligers. He was at 
Mantua and saw great ruin, at Cremona and heard of the 
expulsion of ten thousand men, and the ruin could not 
be estimated. He saw Ferrara, Modena, Brescia, Parma, 
and many more always in a bad state, " and they are so 
now." The simple prose of his narrative makes a fitting 
pendant to Dante's sonorous verse — 

" Ah, servile Italy ! abode of woe ! 
Bark without pilot in a stormy sky ! 
Queen once of fair domains — now fallen low ! 

While now thy living ones are constant foes, 
And each one gnaws the other — even they 
Whom the same moat, the self-same walls enclose. 
Search, wretched one ! thy sea-girt shores around ; 
Then inward turn to thine own breast, and see 
If any part in joyous peace be found." ^ 

To Italy, thus torn by factions and fast falling under 
the yoke of ambitious despots, there came, in 1309, the 
news that a German monarch was once again about 
to cross the Alps to restore the long dormant authority of 
the Empire. More than half a century had passed since 
the death of Conrad ; and since that time no Emperor 
Elect had come to receive the Iron Crown of Lombardy 
and the Imperial diadem. The new sovereign, Henry 

^ This cry was raised against Ventura on one occasion when the 
burghers under his command were cut off from suppUes by the 
enemy. 

^ " Purg.," Canto VI., Wright's trans. 



THE RISE OF THE TYRANNIES 399 

of Luxemburg, was a man of small possessions, a fact 
which probably recommended him to the electors, who, 
from selfish reasons, preferred to see the Empire weak 
rather than their own power curtailed. In character he 
was pious, brave, and clement, and inspired by lofty 
idealism which led him to aim at restoring the splendour 
of the Empire, without fully taking into account the 
difficulties in the way. Strange to say, he had been 
elected with the full approval of Pope Clement V., and 
was coming, in accord with him, to be crowned at Rome 
and to bring peace, as he hoped, to the Italian peninsula. 
He had been elected towards the end of 1308, and 
in the next year arrangements had been made with the 
Pope, then residing in Avignon, for his coronation at 
Rome. In 1310 envoys were sent into Italy to make 
preparations for his journey, and in October of the same 
year Henry himself crossed the Alps and proceeded by 
way of Susa to Turin. 

Times had changed since a German sovereign led with 
him on his progress to Rome forces sufficient to com- 
mand obedience. In order to carry on his long struggle 
with the Lombards and the Church, Frederick II. had 
been forced to make concessions to his German vassals 
which had rendered them virtually independent. The 
interregnum, which had lasted until 1273, had still further 
contributed to make the Crown a mere empty dignity. 
The German king had now to depend for his power 
on the resources of his hereditary states ; and these, as 
we have seen in Henry's case, were but small. Instead 
of the hosts which had followed Barbarossa across the 
Alps, or the smaller, but still considerable, army with 
which Frederick II. had entered Italy in 1236, only a 
thousand men-at-arms and as many archers formed the 
force which accompanied Henry of Luxemburg. 

Yet such was still the prestige of the Imperial name, 
such were the expectations aroused by the lofty character 
of the new ruler, that he met at first with no open oppo- 
sition. Guido della Torre had tried in vain to organise 
a Guelf League, in order to shut the Alpine passes against 
Henry. But the other Guelf leaders, headed by Antonio 



400 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

Fisiraga, lord of Lodi, and Count Filippone of Langusco, 
lord of Pavia, declared that they would not be rebels to 
the king their lord.^ The new sovereign, who came de- 
claring his intention to do equal justice to all irrespective 
of party, to make peace everywhere, and to restore all 
exiles, had in his favour an irresistible current of popular 
approval. Besides, the Emperor was the undoubted 
fount of honour, and for the tyrants of the cities, no 
matter what their party, there was the prospect of 
winning the Imperial favour by diplomacy or gold, and 
seeing their usurped dominion turned by a diploma 
into a legal rule founded on the title of Vicar of the 
Empire. 

The cities from Turin to Milan received Henry with 
becoming respect. In Asti he restored the exiled 
Ghibellines to their homes, in Vercelli he pacified the 
Tizzoni and the Avvocati, in Novara the Brusati, the 
Tornielli. In each city he set up an Imperial Vicar, 
according to the plan followed by Frederick II. Only 
Guido della Torre still refused his allegiance. In Henry's 
train was Matteo Visconti, as well as some exiled mem- 
bers of the Della Torre family; and Guido feared that 
their entry into Milan would mean his own ruin. Henry 
drew near to Milan, and summoned the whole population 
to meet him unarmed without the walls. In spite of 
Guido's commands to the contrary, the Emperor was 
obeyed. Nobles, people, magistrates, all streamed out to 
welcome their sovereign. Guido, left almost alone, saw 
himself forced to follow their example. He, too, came 
to pay his homage, which was accepted with a mild 
reproof. 

Two days before Christmas Henry made his solemn 
entry into Milan. His first care was to pacify the con- 
tending factions. For this purpose he demanded and 
obtained the direct lordship of the city. Guido thus saw 
his fears come true, and the government taken from his 
hands. Henry saw himself, without striking a blow, in 

' The Guelfs of Asti declared to the ambassadors of Robert of 
Naples, " We are the servants of our lord the Emperor, and in all 
the days of our life we will have no other lord but him" (Ventura), 



THE RISE OF THE TYRANNIES 401 

peaceful possession of the mighty city which had twice 
defied all the power of his predecessors. 

The pacification was carried out in a solemn assembly 
held before the venerable church of Sant Ambrogio. All 
exiles were restored ; their property was given back to 
them ; all leagues and associations for party purposes 
were dissolved ; Matteo and Guido sat side by side at the 
Emperor's feet, firm friends to • all outward seeming. 
Following on this ceremony came the coronation of 
Henry and his consort, which took place on January 6, 
131 1, in the presence of the deputies of all the Lombard 
cities, except Alessandria, Alba, and Ferrara, which were 
under the rule of King Robert of Naples. A curious 
detail is that the famous Iron Crown of Lombardy had 
been pawned by the Torriani in 1273 and never re- 
deemed. It was necessary to manufacture a copy to 
supply its place. 

So far unlooked-for success had attended Henry. But 
almost immediately after his coronation the real diffi- 
culties of his position began to show themselves. King 
Robert of Naples, head of the extreme Guelfs, had, from 
the first, done all he could to prevent any revival of the 
Imperial power. Florence and Bologna joined him in 
this course, and their emissaries were busily employed in 
stirring up the Lombard Guelfs to opposition. The task 
of pacification which Henry had undertaken was bound 
to excite hostility. Everywhere he restored the exiles 
and abolished party government, to the indignation of 
those who had profited by the former state of affairs. 
The despots who had climbed to power as party leaders 
were forced to resign their authority. The Guelf lords 
who had at first received Henry as their sovereign were 
induced by this to join themselves to Henry's open 
enemies as the surest way of recovering their power ; the 
Ghibelline lords set all their hopes on the possibility of 
showing the Emperor that they alone could be counted 
on as his friends, and of bringing on an open rupture 
with the Guelfs. Moreover, Henry had placed Imperial 
Vicars in the cities, thus replacing the power of the 
Podesta or of the former despot by that of a royal official. 

26 



402 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

This, which was certainly a diminution of the Communal 
liberties, might well be considered an infringement of the 
Treaty of Constance ; and unfortunately the men chosen 
for the office -were, in many cases, incapable and vicious, 
so that they quickly became more obnoxious than the 
native despots whom they replaced. 

All Henry's efforts at impartiality broke down before 
the fierce Italian passions. The Ghibellines declared 
that Henry saw no one but Guelfs ; the Guelfs that he 
welcomed only Ghibellines. But he was forced, in spite 
of all his desire to hold the balance even, by sheer 
necessity to incline to the Ghibelline side. The exiled 
Guelfs were restored to Mantua, as they had been to 
Brescia and Modena ; but Henry was not strong enough 
to force Bonaccolsi to resign the lordship of the city ; 
while in Verona he was not able to induce Cane della 
Scala to consent to the return of the exiles. 

The first open difficulties in Henry's way showed them- 
selves in Milan. The citizens were requested to contribute 
a large sum of money to provide for his necessities ; 
and Henry announced his intention of choosing a 
hundred young nobles of the leading families, nominally 
to figure as an escort at his coronation in Rome, really 
to serve as hostages for the fidelity of the Milanese. 
These demands greatly irritated the citizens of all parties. 
News was brought to Henry that the whole city was in 
a ferment, and that Galeazzo, son of Matteo Visconti, had 
been seen in earnest conversation with one of Guide's 
sons outside one of the gates. He resolved on prompt 
action. His German troops were sent to search the 
houses of the Visconti and the Della Torre, where it 
was reported that armed men were assembling. They 
found Matteo sitting in the loggia before his palace, in 
every-day garments, quietly conversing with some of 
his friends. No signs of warlike preparations were dis- 
covered in the house. But the houses of the Della 
Torre were found filled with armed men, and almost 
immediately a conflict arose between them and the 
Germans. 

The combat grew as more soldiers and partisans of 



THE RISE OF THE TYRANNIES 403 

the Torriani hurried to the spot. The issue was doubt- 
ful, when Galeazzo Visconti suddenly appeared at the 
head of the partisans of his house, and joined his forces 
to the royal troops. The Torriani had been surprised 
before their preparations were complete. Their barri- 
cades and palaces were stormed, and the latter sacked 
and burned. The mass of the people remained quiet, 
until the issue of the combat was no longer doubtful, 
when they declared for the victors. The members of 
the Delia Torre family escaped with difficulty from their 
dwellings, and fled from Milan. For six days the fury 
of the mob raged against the Torriani and their sup- 
porters. 

It is said that the whole occurrence was the outcome 
of a deep-laid plot on the part of Matteo Visconti. 
He had pretended to join with the Delia Torre in a 
plan to expel the Germans, meaning from the first to 
declare for Henry as soon as a conflict should break 
out. According to others, he had really intended to side 
with the Delia Torre ; and it was due to the pure accident 
that he had not yet begun to arm his followers that 
Henry's emissaries had found no suspicious preparations 
at his house. Then when the preparations of the Delia 
Torre were discovered — the rising had been meant for 
the following day — he had quickly seen and taken 
advantage of the opportunity to crush the rival house 
once for all, and to figure in Henry's eyes as his loyal 
subject. Whatever the truth may be, the result of the 
upheaval was to leave the Visconti masters of. Milan. ^ 
The Delia Torre never returned from this their second 
exile. After a few years their name disappears from 
the annals of Lombardy. 

Close following on the expulsion of the Delia Torre 
came a revolt of the Guelf Communes of Lodi, Crema, 
and Cremona. But the instigators of the insurrection 
had no time to provision the cities or take other 
measures of defence, before the advance of Henry's 

' It is true that Henry, as soon as quiet was restored, banished 
Matteo and Galeazzo from Milan. But they were recalled almost 
at once. 



404 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

forces, aided by the Milanese, terrified them into sub- 
mission. In his treatment of Cremona, the German 
monarch departed from his usual clemency. Acting 
on the advice of the leading Ghibelline noble, the city 
had sent three hundred of the chief of the nobles and 
people, barefooted and with ropes round their necks, 
to implore pardon. They were all cast into prison, 
where most of them perished. The walls of Cremona 
were broken down, the ditches filled up, the towers 
destroyed. A fine of 100,000 florins was imposed on 
the city, which was furthermore deprived of all its rights 
and finally given over for three days to the fury of the 
soldiery. 

More serious was the revolt of Brescia. Matteo Maggi, 
lord of the city, had been the last of the Lombard rulers 
to make his submission to Henry and to restore the 
exiles. He acted thus, though a Ghibelline, because, as 
he declared to the monarch, no confidence could be 
placed in Tebaldo Brusati, head of the exiled Guelfs. 
Yielding at length to Henry's exhortations, he had 
agreed to receive back the exiles. A solemn act of 
pacification followed, and Matteo resigned his lordship 
into the hands of an Imperial Vicar. Scarcely had the 
exiles returned when the two factions were at each 
other's throats. Contemporary authors differ as to 
which party first broke the peace. But it would seem 
that Brusati, unmindful of what he owed to Henry, 
was the aggressor. The people and all the Guelfs sided 
with the Brusati, and after several days' battle in the 
streets the Ghibellines were expelled, along with the 
Imperial Vicar. 

This was towards the end of February, and in May 
Henry appeared before the city at the head of a great 
army gathered from all parts of Lombardy. Then began 
another siege of Brescia as memorable as that under- 
taken by Frederick II. It is hard to understand why 
the burghers who had enjoyed internal peace for more 
than ten years under the mild rule of the Maggi should 
now have exposed themselves to utter ruin at the bidding 
of the Brusati. But we have already seen in the case 



THE RISE OF THE TYRANNIES 405 

of Parma in 1247 how easily an impassioned orator or 
a dexterous party leader could work on the passions 
of an Italian multitude, and excite them to the highest 
pitch of enthusiasm. 

Brescia, strong in men and fortifications, resisted with 
the utmost vigour.^ Tebaldo Brusati, captured in a 
sally, refused the offer of life and honours if he would 
persuade his fellow-citizens to surrender. He was 
dragged to death at a horse's tail. The Brescians, 
only rendered more furious by his death, retaliated 
by hanging their prisoners from the battlements. All 
efforts to storm the fortifications failed. The burghers 
replied by sorties, in one of which the Emperor's brother 
perished. 

In the meantime the besieging army was wasting away 
through sickness brought on by the summer heats. The 
Florentines, King Robert, and Henry's other enemies 
were gaining time to prepare a vigorous resistance in 
Tuscany. At last, in September, the mediation of the 
Cardinals, sent from Avignon to crown Henry at Rome 
succeeded in inducing the citizens to capitulate. They 
obtained terms sufficiently moderate considering the 
provocation they had given. Henry is, however, accused 
of not having kept his promises. The walls were broken 
down, the gates sent to Rome. A fine of seventy 
thousand florins was imposed on the citizens, and 
levied not only on the Guelfs but on the Ghibellines, 
many of whom had actually fought on Henry's side, 
and all of whom had suffered for their devotion to the 
Empire. 

Once before the Brescians had stemmed the tide of 
Frederick II.'s successes after Cortenuova. Now they 
shattered Henry's hope of re-establishing the Imperial 
authority by peaceful means. The acute contemporary 
observer, Giovanni Villani, is of opinion that, if Henry 
had marched into Tuscany after the submission of 
Cremona, Florence and the other disobedient Communes 
would have made their submission. But the long siege 

' It is said that the city and Contado could supply ioo,ck)o men fit 
to bear arms. 



406 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

of Brescia gave a breathing space to his opponents. 
King Robert and the Tuscan Guelfs were able to pre- 
pare for resistance. Henry's money was exhausted, 
his army diminished by battle and pestilence. Worst 
of all, he had been forced to rely for assistance on the 
Ghibelline leaders. Ghiberto da Correggio had given 
him valuable help, and had restored the Imperial crown 
which had been kept in Parma ever since the overthrow 
of Frederick H. at Vittoria. He received in return the 
title of Imperial Vicar. To Matteo Visconti, who had 
shown himself equally forward in his service, Henry 
gave the same dignity in July. Thus the de facto rule 
of the Visconti in Milan now was put on a legal footing. 
In October, 131 1, Henry left Lombardy for Genoa, 
on his way to Rome. His subsequent career, his corona- 
tion in the Basilica of Saint John Lateran (for after six 
weeks' fighting he was unable to dislodge the Guelfs from 
St. Peter's and Castel Sant' Angelo), his untimely death at 
Buonconvento, near Siena, in August, 13 13, are outside 
the scope of our work. 



CHAPTER XIV 

VISCONTI AND BELLA SCALA 

Henry of Luxemburg had come to bring peace to Italy. 
After his first delusive successes the flame of party strife 
had burst forth more furiously than ever. He had set 
himself to destroy the power of the despots, who had 
founded their rule on the wrecks of the communal 
liberties. The net result of his enterprise was to establish 
these despots more firmly than before. He had striven 
to be impartial ; but the hostility of the Guelfs had forced 
him to look to the Ghibellines for help. He saw himself 
obliged to rely on those party leaders, such as the 
Visconti and Delia Scala, who were able to dispose of all 
the resources of the Ghibelline party. 

The remainder of our story will show the growth of 
despotism and the final disappearance of republican 
institutions from Lombardy. A new feature marks the 
period following on the death of Henry VII. Up to 
now each city, whether free or under a despot, had 
preserved its external independence. It is true that Ezze- 
lino had forcibly brought Vicenza, Padua, and other 
Communes under his sway, but this was a mere passing 
exception. The rule of Oberto Pelavicini, William of 
Montferrat, the Torriani, the Visconti (previous to their 
overthrow in 1302) over several Communes had been 
based on the predominance of one faction in these cities. 
It ended with the downfall of that faction. ^ Hence the 
continual variations in the extent of their power. Each 

' The rule of the House of Este in Modena and Reggio from 1288 
and 1290 to 1306 is an exception to this. Vicenza, too, had been 
subject to Padua for nearly fifty years before 131 1. 

407 



408 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

Commune subject to them preserved its independence in 
external matters. But now we find the more able among 
the Signori subverting by force the communal institutions 
or the authority of the local despots in the neighbouring 
cities. An age of consolidation sets in. The smaller 
Communes were swallowed up one by one by the masters 
of the greater ones. By the middle of the fourteenth 
century the innumerable city-states of Lombardy had 
disappeared. Besides the feudal principalities of Savoy, 
Montferrat, and Saluzzo in Piedmont, we find five 
despotic dynasties who between them ruled the whole 
valley of the Po. 

During this period of consolidation the Guelf and 
Ghibelline parties represent, to a great extent, the struggle 
between despotism and liberty. Before 1310 there are as 
many, if not more, Guelf Signori as there are Ghibelline. 
After that time those despots who held their own success- 
fully did so as Ghibellines. Even the House of Este 
joined that party in order to recover Ferrara. Those 
Communes which made despairing efforts to preserve 
their freedom did so under the Guelf banner. Villani's 
remark that the Guelf party was that of liberty, and that 
every one who made himself tyrant of a city inevitably 
became a Ghibelline, is true of this period. 

Henry had scarcely quitted Lombardy when every- 
where the Guelfs rose against his Vicars. Ghiberto da 
Correggio, whom we have seen changing sides to suit his 
own selfish ends, caused Parma and Reggio to revolt. 
The Imperial favour had given him the title of Vicar in 
these cities ; but Florentine gold proved stronger than 
gratitude. Asti, Vercelli, and Novara rose while Henry 
was still at Genoa. Philip of Savoy, who had been made 
Vicar in Piedmont, was foremost here in rebellion. In 
Pavia, Filippone da Langusco expelled or imprisoned the 
leading Ghibellines. The Brescian Guelfs, far from being 
intimidated by the recent siege, rose against the Ghibel- 
lines on the return to the city of seventy citizens whom 
Henry had carried off as hostages, and who had found 
means to escape. But in Brescia it was the Guelfs who 
were driven out. Joining the Cremonese exiles they 



VISCONTI AND DELLA SCALA 409 

captured Cremona in March, 13 12. About the same time 
Fisiraga seized on Lodi, and the Imperial Vicar with the 
Ghibellines was expelled from Piacenza. In the Mark, 
the Paduans, who up to now had not ventured on open 
opposition to Henry, declared against him. Their indig- 
nation had been kindled by the loss of Vicenza, which 
Cane della Scala had seized in April 131 1. The brothers 
Alboino and Cane had been made Imperial Vicars in 
Verona, and to this dignity was now joined the vicariate 
over Vicenza. 

The first efforts of the Guelfs were not successful. The 
Marquis Cavalcabo, head of the Guelfs of Cremona, was 
defeated by the forces of Milan and Bergamo, and taken 
prisoner along with Benzoni, formerly Signore of Crema. 
Cavalcabo, brought before the German Vicar-General 
whom Henry had sent to Lombardy, was killed by him 
with a blow of a mace. Benzoni, handed over to the 
leader of the Ghibellines of Crema, was strangled. The 
ablest of the Guelf despots, Antonio Fisiraga, fell into 
the hands of Matteo Visconti. Cast into prison, he 
remained there till his death, fifteen years later. The 
ever-inconstant Alberto Scotto put himself at the head of 
the Ghibellines of Piacenza, and restored them to that 
city after a month's exile. 

The power of the Ghibelline despots grew. Henry was 
forced to rely entirely on their support. Already he had 
made Visconti Imperial Vicar in Milan, and the brothers 
Alboino and Cane della Scala in Verona. The Bonac- 
colsi obtained the same title in Mantua by timely aid in 
money. Rizzardo da Camino, the Guelf lord of Treviso, 
abandoned the traditional policy of his house and pur- 
chased the same dignity, 

A year had passed since Henry had, as he thought, 
brought peace to Lombardy ; and now war raged every- 
where with greater violence than ever. In Vercelli, 
Guelfs and Ghibellines fought in the streets for forty-nine 
days. Milan, Pavia, the Marquis of Montferrat, Philip of 
Savoy, all intervened in the quarrel. Help from Pavia 
decided the struggle in favour of the Guelfs ; but in 
return the Pavesan territory was wasted far and wide by 



410 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

Visconti and the Milanese. In Modena the Guelfs were 
discovered in an intrigue with Bologna. This was 
enough to excite popular fury against them. The plotters 
fled, to reappear with a Bolognese army. The Modenese 
went out to stop the advance, but were routed, and the 
city itself almost fell into the hands of her detested rival. 
The prompt aid of Cane della Scala and Passerino dei 
Bonaccolsi drove back the enemy from the walls. As 
the only means to secure themselves from Bolognese 
aggression, the dominant party in Modena renounced 
the liberty the recovery of which the burghers had 
saluted with such extravagant outbursts of joy six years 
before. Bonaccolsi was proclaimed lord of the city. 

While Modena returned to the rule of a despot Treviso 
shook off the yoke of hers. Rizzardo da Camino, who 
had gone over to the Ghibellines, was assassinated by a 
man dressed as a peasant. The murderer was at once 
cut to pieces by the bystanders — Rizzardo was playing 
chess at the moment when he was struck — and it was 
generally believed that he was an instrument employed 
by some of these very persons who were displeased at 
Rizzardo's change of party. By killing the murderer they 
removed the only evidence against them. Rizzardo's 
brother and successor, Guecelo, at first sided with 
the Guelfs ; but before eight months were passed he 
began to make overtures to the opposite party. This led 
to a widespread conspiracy against him, in which some 
of his own kinsmen joined. In December, 13 12, the 
people rose and expelled him from the city, and Treviso 
was once more free. 

While Treviso was torn by internal dissensions the rest 
of the Mark was the theatre of a violent struggle for the 
possession of Vicenza between Cane della Scala and the 
Commune of Padua. More than one peace was made 
between the rivals, to be broken before long. Its result 
was to increase the power of the lord of Verona, and to 
bring Padua, for the first time since the overthrow of 
Ezzelino, into the hands of a tyrant. 

In February, 131 2, the Guelfs of Piacenza rose and 
expelled the Ghibellines, along with the Imperial Vicar. 



VISCONTI AND BELLA SCALA 411 

The ever-intriguing Alberto Scotto, who had been driven 
from Piacenza some eighteen months before, saw his 
opportunity. Suddenly reverting to the Ghibelline cause, 
he brought the exiles back to the city just a month after 
their expulsion. Piacenza again acknowledged Henry's 
authority. But there could be no durable peace between 
the Scotti and the Landi. Alberto had expelled the 
leading Guelfs in March in the interests of the Empire. 
In September he expelled the Ghibelline chiefs in his 
own, " and then the Lord Alberto," says the chronicle, 
" had for the third time the dominion over Piacenza." ^ 

Henry's death in August, 13 13, and the change in the 
attitude of Clement V., who had begun to declare for the 
Guelfs, appeared at first to presage the total ruin of the 
Ghibellines. But once more, as in the years following 
the death of Frederick II., the latter found salvation in 
the abilities of their leaders. Matteo Visconti in Milan 
and Can Grande della Scala in Verona not only held 
their ground against all the efforts of the Guelfs but 
began the career of conquest which was to raise their 
houses high above all the despotic dynasties of Lombardy. 

Matteo Visconti had to contend almost unaided with 
the cities west of Milan, which were now all Guelf, and 
of which the chief, such as Pavia, Asti, and Alessandria, 
had chosen King Robert of Naples as their lord. His 
seneschal, Hugues des Baux, headed, along with Filip- 
pone da Langusco and Philip of Savoy, the Guelf party 
in these districts. 

To the east Cremona, Parma, and Reggio — the last 
two under Ghiberto da Correggio — belonged to the same 
faction. 

' According to the " Chronicon Placentinum," the Guelf Fontana 
had driven out Guido della Torre's garrison, along with some Ghibel- 
lines, in May, 1309. Leo de Fontana was then elected Lord. But 
Alberto Scotto must soon have superseded him, for we are told that 
in 13 10 he had ruled Piacenza for a year and four months. The 
advent of Henry VIL led him to recall the Guelf Arcelli and the 
Ghibelline Landi, both of whom were in exile. He promised them 
two-thirds of the offices. On the very day of their return they 
attacked Alberto, and next day expelled him. He retired to Castel 
Arquato, and Piacenza remained quiet until February, 1312. 



412 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

Matteo, aided by a numerous band of talented and 
warlike sons, made head against all his enemies. The 
eldest of these sons, Galeazzo, had obtained from the 
Emperor early in 131 3 the vicariate over Piacenza. The 
shifty Alberto Scotto, who now professed devotian to 
the Imperial cause, did not dare to oppose him. 
Galeazzo restored the exiled Landi ; and then, on the 
pretext of maintaining public tranquillity, he arrested 
seven of the leaders of their party and seven of those 
of the Scotti, and sent them to his father at Milan. 
The Ghibelline Landi were at once released ; their 
opponents, amongst whom were Alberto himself and 
his son, were retained in captivity. Piacenza was now 
entirely in the hands of the Ghibellines ; and in Septem- 
ber, 1 3 13, the dominant party elected Galeazzo as per- 
petual lord. Alberto was soon released ; but he never 
re-entered Piacenza. He had betrayed all parties in turn, 
seeking ever his own aggrandisement. His perfidy would 
have been less remarkable in the fifteenth century, when 
Italian despots had made of treason a fine art. But in 
the early fourteenth century Guelfs and Ghibellines still 
represented fixed principles. The despot could not yet 
afford to cut himself adrift from both. Alberto had three 
times gained the lordship over Piacenza ; but, distrusted 
by all, his power never struck firm roots. He fell at last 
without a struggle. For some years his unquiet figure 
flits at times across our history, engaged in some intrigue 
against the Visconti. But in 1317 Castel Arquato, his 
chief stronghold, had to surrender, and Alberto retired 
to Crema, where, soon after, he died. 

The Guelf cities made an attempt to capture Piacenza ; 
but they were easily repulsed, and Filippone da Langusco, 
captured in the flight, was sent to end his days in the 
prisons of Milan. Undeterred by this, the forces of Asti, 
Alessandria, Pavia, Vercelli, and Cremona renewed the 
attack in 13 14. Discord dispersed their host, when they 
were already pressing their attack against the walls. 
They retired in confusion, pursued by Marco, one of 
the most warlike of Matteo's sons. Following them up 
beyond the borders of Piacenza, he captured Tortona. 



VISCONTI AND BELLA SCALA 413 

Besides Milan, Piacenza, and Tortona, Matteo now 
numbered Bergamo and Como among the cities under 
his control. The Rusconi, whom Henry VIL had 
restored to the latter city, had imitated the Visconti, 
and had driven out the Vitani, who had ruled the Com- 
mune for eight years. The Rusconi were in close alliance 
with the ruler of Milan. Ludovico, another of Matteo's 
sons, was Imperial Vicar in Bergamo. The Guelfs were 
expelled about this time, and, rallying in the open 
country, were defeated with the loss of a thousand 
slain. 

The year 13 15 saw the greatest triumph of Matteo's 
arms. In July he gained a great victory in the open 
country over King Robert's general, who had led into 
the field the forces of Pavia, Vercelli, Asti, and Alessan- 
dria, with the exiles from Milan. Several of the Torriani 
were among the killed and captured. In October, while 
the men of Pavia were on an expedition against a newly- 
erected castle of Matteo's, Stefano, another of the Visconti 
brothers, secretly approached the city, and at early dawn 
scaled the walls. The surprise was complete. Ricciardo 
da Langusco, son of Count Filippone, and his successor 
as ruler of Pavia, was slain as he tried to organise resist- 
ance. But resistance was hopeless. Visconti's troops 
easily became masters of a city almost devoid of defenders. 
For the first time in its history the proud capital of the 
Lombard kings fell into the hands of the detested Milanese. 

Visconti did not abuse this great success. The city 
was plundered as a matter of course ; but there was little 
actual bloodshed. The Beccheria, rescued from the prison 
in which they had lately languished, were put at the head 
of the government. But in order to make sure of their 
obedience Matteo built a fortress within the walls, and 
left his son Lucchino in command of the garrison. 

Before the year was over Alessandria was also in 
Matteo's hands. His forces had approached the walls, 
bringing with them the exiled Lanzavecchia. But Tom- 
maso del Pozzo, leader of the chief Guelf family, had 
become weary of the rule of King Robert of Naples. 
Instead of resisting the enemy, he rose in arms against 



414 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

the general of the King, and opened the gates to Lucchino 
Visconti. Alessandria sought internal peace under 
Matteo's rule. 

While Matteo was extending his power to the west, 
and had planted the Milanese banner on the walls of 
Pavia, Cremona — the other great rival of Milan in the 
past — was hard pressed by the arms of Bonaccolsi and 
Delia Scala. Their army penetrated to the gates of 
Cremona. In its distress the city sought safety by pro- 
claiming Signore the Marquis Jacopo Cavalcabo. There 
was, however, a considerable party in the city who were 
indignant at this surrender of their freedom. Headed by 
Ponzino dei Ponzoni, they left Cremona and fortified 
themselves at Soncino, and soon entered into negotia- 
tions with the Ghibellines. To restore peace the media- 
tion of Ghiberto da Correggio was invoked. But the 
lord of Parma, who had secured his power by repeated 
treasons, saw here the opportunity of a new and advan- 
tageous breach of faith. He induced Cavalcabo to resign, 
so that Ponzoni and his party might return. Cavalcabo 
therefore laid down his authority, on which Ghiberto, 
instead of bringing back the exiles, had himself pro- 
claimed lord. But Ghiberto had played the traitor once 
too often. Alarmed at his growing power, the Ghibelline 
leaders took measures to strike at him in Parma itself. 
They won over some of the nobles of that city in whom 
Ghiberto most trusted. These roused the city to arms 
with the cry of " Popolo ! Popolo ! " and soon mastered 
Ghiberto's followers. Ghiberto found himself helpless, 
and withdrew to his castles in the Contado. And the 
parties of Cremona, uniting against the man who had 
betrayed them both, soon deprived him of his authority 
in that city also.^ For some years more he plays a con- 

^ Cremona was then ruled as a republic under an Abbot of the 
People. In less than a year he, with fifty of the leading citizens, 
was assassinated by Cavalcabo, who again seized the government. 
Next year (1318) Ponzoni expelled him, and was chosen Signore. 
In 13 19 Ghiberto da Correggio, at the head of a Guelf army, sur- 
prised the city by night, and committed horrible cruelties. In 
1322 Galeazzo Visconti forced Cremona to surrender, and was 



I 



VISCONTI AND DELLA SCALA 415 

siderable part in the struggles of Lombardy as a leader of 
troops in the pay of King Robert and of the Guelf party. 
But he never recovered the dominion of Parma, Thus, 
one by one, the Guelf despots were falling before the 
more talented and more fortunate Ghibellines. 

Parma now joined the Ghibelline League. On the 
other hand Crema went over to the Guelfs. So, too, 
did Brescia, where the Guelf exiles, who had been re- 
admitted in 1313, rose in arms after nearly three years of 
peace, and, with help from Cremona, expelled their 
opponents after a struggle in the streets. Much more 
important was the recovery of Ferrara by the Marquises 
of Este and their subsequent going over to the Ghibel- 
lines. 

Ferrara had been for some years under King Robert of 
Naples. The Catalan mercenaries, whom he placed in 
garrison there, grievously oppressed the inhabitants. 
Their tyranny became so insupportable that in 13 17 the 
burghers rushed to arms, massacred all the soldiers they 
could find in the streets, and besieged the survivors in 
the castle. Rinaldo and Obizzo, sons of the Marquis 
Aldrovandino of Este, were sent for and proclaimed 
Signori. Under their guidance Castel Tealdo was 
stormed, and King Robert's mercenaries slaughtered to 
a man. Pope John XXII., who was entirely under the 
influence of King Robert, refused to recognise the new 
rulers of Ferrara. The city was put under an interdict, 
and the Marquises excommunicated. ^ Thus the House 
of Este was driven into the arms of the Ghibellines. 

Four years had passed since the death of Henry of 
Luxemburg, and the Ghibelline cause, which had seemed 
lost beyond hope, was now predominant in Lombardy. 
Matteo Visconti ruled, directly or through his sons, over 
Milan and six lesser cities.^ Lodi and Como were under 
the rule the one of the Vistarini, the other of the 

elected Signore. Thus Cremona, like Pavia, was swallowed up by 
Milan. 

' According to Muratori the sentence of excommunication was 
pronounced in 1320. 

= Pavia, Piacenza, Bergamo, Tortona, Novara, Alessandria. 



416 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

Rusconi, both allied to the lord of Milan. Can Grande 
della Scala held Verona and Vicenza, and was daily 
gaining ground on Padua and Treviso. Mantua and 
Modena obeyed Passerino Bonaccolsi. Parma was 
Ghibelline, so now was Ferrara. The Guelf Brescia 
was hard pressed by the exiles, who held a large pro- 
portion of the Contado. Cremona was helpless, torn by 
the rival factions of Ponzoni and Cavalcabo, Only in 
Piedmont, where King Robert's power was strong, did 
the Guelfs hold their own. 

But it is an invariable feature in the struggle between 
the two factions that no sooner does the balance of 
success seem to incline decisively to one side than it 
begins to move back again in the opposite direction. 
The declining Guelf cause was revived by the action of 
the Pope. 

Although the Guelfs called themselves the Party of the 
Church, yet for years no Pope had intervened in their 
favour in Lombardy. The Papacy, since the death of 
Conradin, had generally aimed at pacifying the contend- 
ing parties. If the Popes had had any quarrel with the 
cities during the last forty-five years, it had been usually 
with the Guelfs. The Delia Torre and the Guelf Com- 
munes of Parma and Bologna had more than once fallen 
under the censures of the Church. The Visconti, on the 
other hand, had never incurred such censures. The 
Delia Scala, too, as a rule, had avoided a breach with 
the Papacy.i There had been peace between the Pope 
and Emperor under Rudolf of Habsburg and his suc- 
cessors ; Henry of Luxemburg had, as we have seen, 
undertaken his Italian expedition in full accord with 
Pope Clement V. 

Now, however, there comes a change. Once more 

• Verona had been excommunicated in 1267, for supporting 
Conradin. The sentence was revoked after his death. In 1273 
Mastino della Scala persecuted the heretical sects which flourished 
in Verona. In 1276 the city was laid under an interdict for sup- 
porting Alfonso of Castile. In 1278 it was reconciled with the 
Church, and 'there was no further quarrel for forty years (Cipolla 
p. 183). 



VISCONTI AND DELLA SCALA 417 

there is a breach between the Empire and the Papacy ; 
and the quarrel gives fresh vigour (if possible) to the 
Italian factions. Now that the Popes resided at Avignon 
they had come under the influence of the Kings of 
Naples, whom, we must remember, were also Counts 
of Provence, and of their cousins the royal house of 
France. King Robert of Naples was aiming at the 
sovereignty of all Italy. The rights of the Empire were 
the chief obstacle in his path. To crush the upholders 
of these rights must then be his first object. Hence his 
opposition to Henry VII., and his hostility to all the 
Ghibelline party. He used the Pope as an instrument. 
Already, after Henry's death, he had induced Clement V. 
to name him Imperial Vicar in Italy. Clement was suc- 
ceeded in 1316 by John XXII., who was entirely under 
Robert's influence. 

A disputed election in Germany gave Pope and King a 
free hand south of the Alps. Pope John refused to 
recognise either of the claimants, Louis of Bavaria and 
Frederick of Austria, as lawful Emperor-elect. In acting 
thus he was obeying the orders of King Robert, to whom 
a protracted interregnum in Germany was all-important. 

His first step in Robert's favour was to forbid any one 
to continue to use the title of Imperial Vicar in Italy 
without the leave of the Holy See. This measure, aimed 
at the Ghibelline despots, was followed in 1320 by a 
fresh nomination of Robert as Vicar over all the lands 
of the Empire in Italy. Matteo Visconti saw the danger 
of a more active Papal intervention on the side of the 
Guelfs. He so far respected the Papal commands as to 
lay aside the title of Vicar ; but instead he had himself 
elected by the people as lord of Milan with the title of 
" Dominus Generalis." 

There was no intermission in his activity against the 
Guelfs. Early in 13 18 he sent a strong force under 
Marco, the best general of all his sons, to lay siege to 
Genoa in concert with the banished Genoese Ghibellines. 
King Robert himself came to the help of the beleaguered 
city. Thanks to his valour and that of his followers, 
Genoa resisted all assaults. After a year of constant 

27 



418 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

fighting dissensions broke out in the Ghibelline camp, 
and their forces withdrew from before the walls. But in 
six months' time Marco was once more before the city, 
while twenty-eight galleys blockaded the port.^ 

King Robert, bent on Matteo's destruction, had in the 
meantime left Genoa for Avignon, to stir up the Pope to 
active measures against the Ghibellines. On his side, he 
collected a large body of French and Provengal troops, 
and sent them into Italy under the command of his 
cousin, Philip of Valois, afterwards King of France. 
With Philip came the Cardinal Bertrand de Poiet, 
charged to order Matteo, under pain of excommunication, 
to lay down his lordship. The Visconti were forced to 
concentrate their forces for the defence of their own 
territories ; but the warfare round Genoa went on with 
varied fortunes for years. 

On Philip's arrival at Asti he found the Guelfs of 
Vercelli hard pressed by the troops of Visconti and the 
exiled Tizzoni. His first move was to the relief of the 
city. Matteo sent against him an army said to have 
amounted to five thousand horse and thirty thousand 
foot — a force with which the French prince was utterly 
unable to cope. He remained for two days in a strongly 
fortified camp, and then, without striking a blow, retired 
and did not halt until he had reached France. He de- 
clared that he could attempt nothing with the forces at 
his disposal ; but the deluded Guelfs declared that he 
had been corrupted by Visconti's gold. 

Worldly arms having failed, the Cardinal tried spiritual 
weapons. Matteo was ordered to resign his power 
over Milan, to recall all exiles, and to recognise King 
Robert as lord of the city. On his refusal he was excom- 
municated, together with the lords of Verona, Mantua, 
and Ferrara, and all his partisans. 

Success still favoured the Ghibellines. In 1321 
Vercelli was forced to surrender. In the same year 

' The first siege lasted from February, 1318, until the following 
February. In July, 13 19, the Ghibellines were again before the city. 
The Ghibellines had manned twenty-eight galleys, the Guelfs thirty- 
two. Peace was not restored until 1331. 



VISCONTI AND BELLA SCALA 419 

Galeazzo Visconti laid siege to Cremona. Jacopo Caval- 
cabo, lord of the city, went to seek for help at Bologna. 
On his return he found the Po held against him. Turn- 
ing aside into the territory of Piacenza, he was there 
defeated and slain by Galeazzo. Cremona, cut off from 
outside help, held out till January, 1322. Then it fell, 
and thus the second great rival of Milan passed under 
the yoke of its ancient foe. 

Experience had shown how little effect the censures of 
the Church had on Itahan minds. In the days of the 
Hohenstaufens, to be excommunicated or under an 
interdict had been, so to speak, the normal state of one- 
half of the cities of the peninsula. But Matteo Visconti 
was growing old. He had been all his life a God-fearing 
man ; now, in his old age, he was profoundly affected by 
being shut out from the Church. He reopened negotia- 
tions with the Cardinal Legate, and sent twelve of the 
chief Milanese to treat for a reconciliation. The Cardinal 
insisted that Matteo should renounce his power. At the 
same time discontent began to show itself in the city. 
Many of the nobles were jealous of the Visconti, the 
people murmured at being shut out from the Church 
and exposed to the dangers of war, in order to gratify the 
ambition of one family. Matteo began to waver ; a large 
party in Milan declared in favour of peace. 

News of this was crried to Galeazzo at Piacenza. 
Hastening to Milan, he declared to the partisans of his 
house that age had weakened Matteo's intellect, and 
demanded that his father should abdicate in his favour. 
By his arguments, backed by those of his brothers, he 
persuaded the old man to give up his half-formed plan 
of submitting to the Church. Matteo laid down his 
power, but it was in favour of his son Galeazzo. The 
few remaining months of his life he spent in prayer and 
pilgrimages to the various churches in and round Milan, 
imploring God's mercy, and calling on all the faithful 
to bear witness to his belief in all the doctrines of the 
Catholic Church. While visiting Monza, where he had 
restored the church treasure and the Imperial regalia, 
pawned by the Delia Torre during their ascendancy, he 



420 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

fell ill and died in June 1322. With his last breath he 
exhorted his sons to make their peace with the pontiff. 

The crimes of Matteo's descendants have made the 
name of Visconti odious. But though he himself was 
not exempt from faults, yet in his long career we find 
more to praise than to blame. He was clement, sub- 
missive to the will of God, constant in adversity, moderate 
in victory. He was a capable soldier ; but it was to his 
political foresight and his profound knowledge of men, 
more than to his abilities in war, that he owed his power. 
His contemporaries called him // Magna — the Great — 
Matteo. He established the rule of his family in Milan 
on what proved to be a durable foundation. We may 
regret the blotting out of Milan from the list of the free 
Communes, but we must remember that liberty had 
already disappeared without Matteo being responsible 
for its loss ; and his rule at least gave internal peace. 
While Cremona was turned by her own citizens into a 
heap of ruins, and Pavia sank daily more and more to 
decay, Milan, under Matteo's wise guidance, was rapidly 
becoming the mistress of Lombardy. 

While the Visconti in Central Lombardy were laying 
the foundations of the most extensive of the sovereignties 
which grew up on the ruins of the Communes, another 
house was rising to power in the Mark, which for a time 
was to play the leading role among the Italian despots. 
We have already seen how the people of Verona, to 
protect themselves from the Counts of San Bonifazio 
and their noble partisans, had chosen Mastino della Scala 
as their Podesta after Ezzelino's death. During the rest 
of his life he held de facto the lordship of the city, though 
in theory the republican institutions continued in force. 
After his murder in 1277 his brother Albert was chosen 
Captain of the People for life, and given power to amend 
the statutes of the Commune at pleasure, as well as to 
control the election of the Podesta and other magistrates. 

Verona prospered under the rule of Mastino and 
Alberto. For a time, it is true, the Counts of San 
Bonifazio and their party harassed the Contado, or 
fomented conspiracies in the city. There were also 



VISCONTI AND BELLA SCALA 421 

occasional wars with Padua or Vicenza. But the 
acquisition of the lordship of Mantua by the Bonac- 
colsi and the consequent adherence of that city to the 
Ghibellines put an end to the old enmity between 
Mantua and Verona. Henceforward these cities were in 
close alliance ; the long south-western frontier of Verona 
was secure from attack, and the San Bonifazio were 
deprived of their chief base of operations. During the 
later years of Mastino's rule and during that of Alberto 
and his immediate successors the wars they engaged in 
were nearly all fought out at a distance from Verona ; 
the lands of that city were practically unmolested. It 
would seem that the Mark, exhausted by Ezzelino's rule, 
sought a breathing space in which to recover from its 
sufferings. Compared with the rest of Italy, it enjoyed 
peace for nearly fifty years. 

Alberto died in 1301, leaving behind him the character 
of a pious, merciful, and wise ruler. His eldest son and 
successor, Bartolommeo, is chiefly famous for the hos- 
pitality which he afforded to the exiled Dante, who 
celebrates him in the well-known lines — 

" Lo primo tuo rifugio e'l primo ostello 
Sara la cortesia del gran Lombardo 
Che in suUa scala porta il santo augello." 

A more fictitious renown attaches to him as the ruler of 
Verona, in whose time the loves of Romeo and Juliet are 
said to have run their tragic course. He died, lamented 
by his subjects, in 1304.1 

His brother and successor, Alboino, increased his 
power by having himself elected perpetual Podesta of 
the Merchants, as well as Captain of the city and of 
the popolo. Dante speaks slightingly of Alboino, who, 
however, seems to have played a creditable part in the 
wars of his time. In 1308 he associated with himself 
in the government his young brother Francesco, better 
known as Can Grande della Scala, the most famous man 

' CipoUa, in his "Compendio della Storia Politica di Verona," 
gives what seem to be conclusive reasons for identifying Barto- 
lommeo with Dante's "gran Lombardo." He declares against the 
authenticity of the legend of Romeo and Juliet. 



422 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

of his house, and perhaps the most attractive figure in 
the whole series of ItaHan despots. 

The average ItaHan party leader was first and foremost 
a politician. He ruled more by intelligence than by I 
martial prowess. The chivalrous feelings, the sentiment 
of honour which inspired the warriors of the countries 
beyond the Alps were almost unknown to him. His 
own interests and those of his party were the chief 
guides of his conduct. The ruder men of the north 
despised the statecraft of the Italians, which they looked 
on — and not without cause — as duplicity. But Cane was 
not merely a wise ruler and a skilled diplomatist ; he 
was also a soldier imbued with knightly ideals. An 
Alberto Scotto, a Ghiberto da Correggio would have 
been woefully out of place at the northern courts 
frequented by Froissart. But in Cane della Scala we 
find an Italian knight who might have figured honour- 
ably in the pages of that chronicler by the side of a 
Walter Manny or a Du Guesclin.^ 

He was the first of the Lombard despots to enter on 
the road followed by so many of the later dynasties, and 
to give his patronage to letters and art. At his splendid 
court all the eminent men of the day found a cordial 
welcome. According to the testimony of one of his 
guests, Gazata of Reggio, " different apartments, accord- 
ing to their various conditions, were assigned to them in 
the palace of the lord della Scala : to each he gave 
attendants, and each had his table elegantly served in 
his own quarters. Their various rooms were marked by 
symbols and devices : triumph for warriors, hope for 
exiles, the Muses for poets, Mercury for artists, Paradise 
for preachers." 

Among the exiles sheltered at his court was the great 
Ghibelline leader, Uguccione della Fagginola, some time 
lord of Pisa and Lucca. A curious example of the 
instability of the political life of the time is that he is 
said to have found there more than twenty other 
dispossessed despots. 

' " He was always foremost in the fight," says a chronicler of 
Reggio of Can Grande. 



VISCONTI AND BELLA SCALA 423 

Another distinguished visitor was Giotto, the father of 
modern ItaHan painting. Can Grande had keen artistic 
tastes, and under his patronage a local school of painting 
sprang up, which made Verona the centre of art in Upper 
Italy. 

But the greatest of all Can Grande's guests was the 
Florentile exile, Dante. The nobles of the " Marca 
gioiosa" had long been famous for their patronage of 
poetry. The Troubadours of Provence, the epic writers 
of Northern France had found a cordial welcome in the 
castles of the San Bonifazio and the Camposampiero. 
More than one native of this part of Italy had won fame 
by his compositions in the Proven9al tongue. This was 
before the vulgar tongue of Italy itself had been employed 
for literary purposes. Now that it had been so employed 
and had reached perfection in the works of the great 
Florentine, Italian poetry received an enthusiastic wel- 
come at the court of the Scaligers. Its greatest repre- 
sentative had found with Bartolommeo "his first refuge 
and his first resting-place." He came again to Verona 
under Cane's rule. 

He found a warm friend and admirer in the great 
warrior. Popular tradition, indeed, declares that the 
latter did not always appreciate at its full worth the 
severe and lofty genius of the poet. Yet their relations 
were always cordial. The last cantica of the " Divine 
Comedy " was dedicated to him ; the various cantos were 
forwarded to him from Ravenna as they were completed. 
A letter, about the authenticity of which there is still 
much dispute, is extant, purporting to give Cane an 
exposition of the poet's aim in composing the "Com- 
media." The best witness to their relations are, however, 
Dante's own words : — 

" His deeds magnificent shall still proclaim 
His praise so loudly, that his very foes 
Shall be compelled to celebrate his fame.'" 

Other lesser writers, some of them anonymous, bear wit- 
ness to the splendours of Verona under Cane's rule. 
' " Paradiso," Canto XVII. 



424 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

" There you might hear Germans, Latins, Frenchmen, 
Flemings, EngHshmen speaking together ; there you 
might hear disputes on astrology, philosophy, and 
theology." 

And another says, " Lament him, ye Veronese mer- 
chants ; those from near and those from afar used to go 
secure through all his lands with all their goods." ^ 

Henry of Luxemburg found the Scaligers too firmly 
rooted in Verona to be treated like the other Lombard 
despots. He did indeed send an Imperial Vicar to the 
city, but the Scaligers were too strong for him, and in 
March, 1311, he was recalled and his ofHce given to 
Alboino and Cane. Shortly after this a revolution 
in Vicenza gave the brothers the opportunity of greatly 
adding to their power. 

Vicenza had been subject to Padua for forty-six years. 
There was, of course, a party in the city who resented 
this ; and they, taking advantage of the scarcely veiled 
hostility of the Paduans to Henry, received help from 
him which enabled them to rise suddenly and expel the 
Paduan garrison. Can Grande had had a part in this 
enterprise, which led as a matter of course to hostilities 
between Padua and Verona and to a revolt of the former 
Commune against Henry. This was before Henry had 
left Genoa for Tuscany, and the Paduans, not yet feeling 
able to brave his anger, soon sent the historian Mussato 
to seek a reconciliation with the Emperor-elect. Mus- 
sato, one of the most learned men of his day, and the 
man in whom we may see the precursor of the humanists 
of the next century, was one of the chiefs of the moderate 
party in Padua which deprecated an open breach with 
the Empire. By his efforts peace was made and the 
freedom of Vicenza recognised. 

" Many-domed Padua proud " had by this time com- 
pletely recovered from the calamities it had suffered under 
Ezzelino. Alone among Italian cities it had been prac- 
tically free from internal discord. From an early period 
the government had had a marked democratic form, 
and the nobles had been too completely beaten down 
• CipoUa, " Storia di Verona." 



VISCONTI AND BELLA SOALA 425 

by Ezzelino to be able to play any important part in the 
Commune after his downfall. The artisans had by now 
gained a large share in the administration. So popular 
was the form of government that the Senate consisted of 
a thousand men renewed annually. The fertility of its 
territory, its advantageous position near Venice, the 
renown of its university, had all added to the wealth 
of the city. Evidences of this wealth and of the public 
spirit of the burghers remain to us to this day in the 
marvellous roof of the Palazzo della Ragione, or Senate 
House, constructed in 1306 after the plans of an Augus- 
tinian monk, who copied a palace roof which he had 
seen during his missionary wanderings in India, and in 
the famous church of Saint Anthony, completed in 1307.^ 
To tranquillity within we must add peace abroad. For 
all these reasons Ferreto, the contemporary Vicentine 
writer, claims that in the year 131 1 (the commencement 
of a new era of discord in the Mark) the Paduans and 
their subjects of Vicenza were of all earthly peoples 
the most fortunate. 

Alboino della Scala died in November, 131 1, leaving 
Cane sole ruler. In the following spring war again 
broke out with Padua. Alarmed at the report that 
Cane had been made Imperial Vicar in Vicenza, the 
Paduans flew to arms. With their allies, Treviso and 
the Marquis Francesco of Este, the Guelf exiles from 
Verona, and the mercenaries whom they took into their 
pay,2 they were able to put into the field ten thousand 
horse and forty thousand foot. But a capable general 
was wanting to this great army. Beyond ravaging the 
lands of Vicenza it accomplished nothing. 

The war had important effects on the internal con- 
dition of Vicenza and Padua. In the former city Can 
Grande, under the pretext of the exigencies of war, was 
able to become absolute master. Seditions broke out in 
Padua, caused by the suspicions of the mob as to the 

' Other monuments of this period are the church of the 
Eremitani, and the Capella dell' Arena with Giotto's frescoes. 

'^ Two English leaders served among these mercenaries 
(Sismondi). 



426 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

good faith of some of the leading citizens, or by discon- 
tent at the burden of taxation. In one such riot WilHam 
of Camposampiero was murdered by the mob in the 
Palazzo Publico; in another more violent one in 13 14 
two demagogues, Ronco di Agolante and Pietro degli 
Alticlini, who had practically acquired the control of 
the government, were torn to pieces with their sons 
or brothers by the infuriated multitude stirred up by 
the noble family of Carrara. 

Ronco and Pietro had grown rich by usury and had 
made use of their political influence to enrich themselves 
still farther. Their private enemies, or those who excited 
their cupidity, were, it is said, accused of treason and 
imprisoned in loathsome dungeons in the palace of the 
Altichini until they died or gave up their property. Their 
oppressive conduct made them odious to the mob ; the 
nobles and the more moderate Guelfs were disgusted at 
their influence in the state. Once popular fury was 
aroused the mass of the people were easily persuaded 
to believe them guilty of the most atrocious crimes. A 
terrible sedition ensued, and for three or four days the 
whole city was in the hands of the populace, who far 
outstripped the limits which the more elderly members 
of the House of Carrara strove to impose on their action. 
Many real or supposed partisans of the demagogues 
perished ; the houses of others were sacked ; in some 
cases advantage was taken of the confusion to satisfy 
private enmities. Among the sufferers was Mussato, 
accused of having invented a new system of taxation 
to oppress the poor. His house was attacked, and he 
himself escaped with difficulty from the city. The 
efforts of the magistrates at length restored tranquillity. 
The tumult added immensely to the influence of the 
Da Carrara family. 

In the September following this tumult the Paduans 
under their Podesta, Ponzino Ponzoni of Cremona, the 
same who afterwards joined the Ghibellines and obtained 
for a moment the lordship of his native city, attempted 
to surprise Vicenza. The time had gone by when the 
burgher infantry of the Communes opposed their serried 



VISCONTI AND BELLA SCALA 427 

ranks to the onslaught of the chivalry of Barbarossa or 
of his grandson The merchants and artificers had 
become averse to long-continued service in the field, 
they had neglected more and more to train themselves 
to the arts of war. At the same time the armour and 
training of cavalry had improved, until finally they had 
reached such perfection as to enable horse to overcome 
all but the steadiest and best-trained foot. The strength 
of an army at this period consisted entirely in the mounted 
men, who were composed of the nobles, whose wealth 
and leisure enabled them to go through the arduous 
training necessary for the heavily armed horseman, or 
of professional soldiers trained to arms from childhood, 
who hired themselves out to the highest bidder. 

The Paduans sent against Vicenza a large force of 
these mercenaries besides their own burgher levies. 
Of the efficiency of the latter we can judge when we 
hear that fifteen hundred carts were necessary to trans- 
port their provisions and baggage the nineteen miles 
which separate the two cities, and that most of them 
marched with their weapons piled up on the baggage 
train. 

The army arrived before Vicenza at daybreak, and 
finding the sentries asleep, captured without a blow 
the suburb of San Pietro. But the city itself, sepa- 
rated from the suburb by the River Bacchiglione, was 
alarmed in time, and the Veronese Podesta exerted 
himself to secure the walls and to prevent any rising 
of the townsmen. The Paduans proved incapable of 
following up their first success. The burgher forces 
began to pitch a camp outside the suburb ; the mer- 
cenaries who were left to guard the gate connecting 
the latter with the town fell to plundering. Soon they 
were joined by the dregs of the Paduan populace, come 
out to share in the hoped-for conquest. Their example 
infected the Paduan soldiers. Churches, monasteries, 
and private houses were sacked, and the provisions 
and munitions of war were taken from the carts and 
scattered on the ground to make room for the spoil. 

Can Grande was in Verona when news of Vicenza's 



428 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

danger reached him. Armed only with a bow he 
sprang on his horse, and followed by one squire 
reached Vicenza after a four hours' gallop. Stopping 
only to take a draught of wine offered to him by a 
woman of the people, he ordered one of the gates 
to be thrown open and at the head of less than a 
hundred mounted men rushed out against the enemy. 
Panic-stricken and in entire disorder, the besieging 
force fled. A few mounted nobles alone attempted 
any resistance. They were easily scattered, and the 
historian Mussato and Giacomo da Carrara, who were 
among them, were captured. As the number of those 
who first issued from the gates with Cane was so small, 
and the mass of the Paduans had not attempted to make 
the slightest stand, the number of prisoners was not 
very great, only about thirty nobles and seven hundred 
plebeians. But all their baggage train and arms fell to 
the victors. Significant of the way in which the Italian 
wars of the time were waged is the number of the killed, 
six nobles and thirty of the popolo. 

This great exploit of the young Cane — he was then 
little more than twenty-three — led to peace. But three 
years afterwards war broke out again, this time occasioned 
by a fresh attempt on Vicenza by the exiles of that city, 
Verona, and Mantua, in league with a party inside the 
walls. Cane, instructed of the plot in time, allowed two 
hundred of the assailants to enter by a gate which they 
believed was opened by their friends. Then, closing 
this, he fell on them and killed or captured them all. 
The force outside the walls was attacked and routed, 
amongst the prisoners being Count Viciguerra of San 
Bonifazio, who died shortly afterwards of his wounds. ^ 

The Commune of Padua had not officially been 
engaged in this attempt on Vicenza ; but the extreme 
Guelf party in the city had organised it and participated 

' Thus, half a century after their expulsion from Verona, the 
family of San Bonifazio were still trying to recover their former 
position. According to the " Annales Mediolanenses," Viciguerra had 
been induced by Henry VII. to sell all his claims on the Veronese 
territory to Cane for ;£ioo,ooo " of small money." 




ViCENZA. 

Church of San Lorenzo. 



428. 



VISCONTI AND BELLA SCALA 429 

in it. Cane refused to listen to the excuses of the 
Paduan government and renewed the war. He soon 
made himself master of the strong fortresses of Montag- 
nana, Este, and Monselice, and reduced Padua to sue for 
peace, which he granted on rigorous conditions. 

The Paduans saw clearly that any peace with the 
ambitious lord of Verona could be little more than 
a truce. A faction in the city declared that their only 
hope of avoiding falling under a foreign yoke was to 
concentrate all power in the hands of one man. It is 
worth while giving the speech of one of the partisans 
of this measure as recorded by Ferreto, in order to see 
what were the arguments which caused so many cities 
to resign their liberties into the hands of a lord. 

" The abuse of popular votes," said the speaker, or says 
Ferreto in his name, "brings us as we have seen towards 
certain ruin. Let us try whether the laws of a single 
man will not bring us a better fate. Everything on the 
earth is subject to a single will ; the members obey the 
head ; the flocks recognise a leader ; if the whole universe 
depended on a just king we would see the end of 
carnage, war, rapine, and all shameful actions. Let us 
obey the voice of Nature, let us follow the examples she 
gives us : let us choose our prince from amongst us. 
Let him take on himself all the cares of government ; let 
him guide the republic by his will ; let him renew the 
edicts ; let him do away with those which have become 
obsolete ; let him be, in a word, the lord and protector 
of all we possess." 

The man thus pointed out to the Paduans as their 
future lord was Giacomo da Carrara, head of a noble 
house which had suffered much from the tyranny of 
Ezzelino. Of late years this family had been head of the 
moderate Guelfs ; and Giacomo, who had, as we have 
seen, been captured by Can Grande before Vicenza, was 
supposed by many to be secretly on the friendliest terms 
with his captor. In July, 1318, the Paduan people hailed 
him as their lord. 

In the meantime Cane was prominently engaged in all 
the affairs of Lombardy. Brescia, Cremona, Modena 



430 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

(which in 13 18 had revolted from Bonaccolsi), Treviso, 
all in turn bore witness to his activity. At a convention 
of the Ghibelline leaders, held towards the end of 1318, 
he was named Captain-General of their League. Next 
year he pressed Treviso so hard that the burghers in 
despair turned to Frederick of Austria, one of the com- 
petitors for the Empire. He sent the Count of Goriziaas 
Imperial Vicar with a German garrison, and the Trevisans 
found that to escape an Italian they had given themselves 
a German master. 

The supposed friendship between Cane and the new 
ruler of Padua did not save that city from a new attack 
in 1319. In concert with the Marquises of Este, now, as 
we have seen, Ghibellines, Cane laid siege to Padua. 
Giacomo was forced to follow the example of the 
Trevisans, and to offer his so lately acquired lordship 
to the Austrian Duke and his lieutenant. The offer 
was accepted ; and in August, 1320, when practically the 
whole Contado had been conquered and the city itself 
was reduced to great extremities, a strong German force 
under the Count of Gorizia entered Padua by night, 
unperceived by the besiegers. Next day they sallied out 
and utterly routed Cane's forces. He himself fled alone 
towards Monselice, hotly pursued, and only a chance 
meeting with a countryman leading a fresh horse enabled 
him to escape. 

This defeat led to a fresh peace with Padua early in 
1 32 1. But it imposed no permanent check on his 
activity. In the same year he captured Feltre, driving 
out Guecelo da Camino, who had tried to seize the town 
on the death of its Bishop. Following up this success 
he made himself master of Belluno. 

During the next few years we find Cane attacking the 
Guelfs in the territories of Reggio, Brescia, and Piacenza. 
But none the less his chief efforts were directed against 
Padua and Treviso. The Count of Gorizia had died in 
1323. To supply his place Padua and Treviso invoked 
in turn the help of Frederick of Austria, of his brother 
Henry, Duke of Carinthia, and finally of Louis the 
Bavarian, whom the decisive victory of Miihldorf in 1322 



VISCONTI AND BELLA SCALA 431 

had left as undisputed sovereign of Germany. Thus 
these two Guelf cities had to turn to Germany, and 
even to the Emperor-elect, for protection against the 
Ghibellines ! 

Cane's diplomacy as well as his skill in war proved 
too much for all the efforts of the two cities. In vain 
they received a Vicar from Henry of Carinthia, in vain 
Louis confirmed him in the office, in vain now one, now 
the other prince obtained for them a truce. Dissensions 
among the citizens and among the members of the 
Carrara family still farther weakened Padua. In 1328 
the city was so hard pressed that Marsilio, brother of 
Giacomo (who had died in 1324), saw nothing left but 
to make what terms he could for himself at the expense 
of the interests of his country. Terms were soon 
arranged. Marsilio was to govern Padua under Cane, 
and to receive the property of various wealthy exiles. 
Cane's nephew Mastino was to marry Taddea, daughter 
of Giacomo. 

The lordship of the Carrara family had nominally 
come to an end when the German Vicar of Frederick of 
Austria had been received. But Marsilio, introducing 
large bodies of armed contadini into the city, had himself 
proclaimed Signore. Four days after the election he 
surrendered Padua, as he had promised, to Can Grande. 

Thus Padua passed for the second time into the hands 
of a ruler of Verona. But Cane's government was very 
different from that of Ezzelino. By the mildness of his 
rule he sought to win the affection of his new subjects, 
and by his care to repair the damages caused by seven- 
teen years of almost constant war. What is more re- 
markable in that age of perfidy, he kept faith with 
Marsilio. 

Treviso soon shared Padua's fate. Cut off from all 
Italian allies, having no hope left of farther German aid, 
the city surrendered to Cane in July, 1329, after a siege 
which had lasted a fortnight. Can Grande had now 
attained to a degree of power greater than had ever been 
reached by Ezzelino. He was master of the whole Mark, 
as well as of Cividale in Friuli. The lord of Ferrara 



432 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

was his ally, the lord of Mantua almost his vassal. But 
death cut him short at the height of his power. Four 
days after his entry into Treviso he died of a sickness, 
probably caused by the fatigues of the siege. He was 
succeeded by his nephews Alberto and Mastino, sons of 
Alboino. 

If Cane had lived longer he might have founded a 
stable Power in North-east Italy, and even have attained 
to a royal crown. But the Scaligers were a short-lived 
race. Cane was only thirty-eight when he died. Five 
other despots of this family ruled Verona in the years 
between 1329 and 1387, in which latter year the House of 
La Scala fell before the all-powerful Visconti. 

Can Grande's is the first in point of time of the 
wonderful series of monuments erected by the Scaligers 
in the little piazza which opens off the Piazza deiSignori.^ 
It is of a simplicity remarkable by its contrast with the 
more elaborate tombs of his successor. 

On the lid of the sarcophagus, which is placed over 
the doorway of the little church of Santa Maria Antica, 
the recumbent figure of the lord of Verona is carved, 
clothed in a long civic robe, the head bound round by a 
simple fillet. Four pillars support a lofty canopy ; and 
on the top of this Cane's mail-clad effigy sits on a noble 
war-horse. Below the sarcophagus are carved some 
Latin lines which preserves an echo of Dante's line — 

"Wondrous shall be his works." 

As the power of the despots rested on no recognised 
legal basis there was no fixed rule of succession. Some- 
times several brothers succeeded jointly to their father's 
heritage, sometimes the father named his heir, or one 
more energetic than the rest seized on all power — this 
last a fruitful source in later times of endless plots and 
countless fratricides. But Alberto della Scala, intent 
only on a life of pleasure, gladly resigned the govern- 
ment to his more energetic younger brother Mastino. 

' The tomb supposed to be that of Alberto is a simple 
sarcophagus. 




v432. 



From Biermann's " Verona." 

Tomb of Can Gkande della Scala. 



VISCONTI AND DELLA SCALA 433 

The constitution of Verona at this time gives us an 
excellent illustration of how in some cases the old 
republican forms of government remained unchanged 
m theory under the rule of a despot. The old com- 
munal institutions seemed at first sight but little altered. 
There was still a foreign Podesta, guided by a Council 
of "Ancients," fifteen in number, of whom nine were 
taken from the heads of the Arti. There were still the 
smaller council of eighty, and the greater of five hundred 
members, besides various other councils, and, in theory, 
the direction of affairs was in their hands. 

But in practice the Signore was absolute. He had the 
deciding voice in the choice of the Podesta, he elected 
the Great Council, in the selection of the other councils 
and of all the officials his wishes were paramount. The 
keys of the gates were in his hands, seven of the chief 
castles of the Contado were directly in his charge, the 
Commune having resigned all claim on them. Podesta, 
councils, magistrates, all swore fidelity to him. In 
addition to this he was lifelong Captain of the People 
and Podesta of the Merchants. And in the statutes of 
the Commune was inserted a clause providing that the 
lord della Scala might alter, annul, or add to the statutes 
at his pleasure. The Signore, like the Roman Emperors, 
is looked on as the ultimate source of all law. 

The statutes of Verona give many interesting details 
as to the management of public affairs. Four foreign 
judges, elected yearly, decided important matters. Twelve 
others, called consuls, adjudicated in minor matters. 
Two friars of the order of the Umiliati managed the 
finances. They were assisted by officials, whose business 
it was to supervise the collection of the revenues and to 
devise means to improve them. There was careful pro- 
vision for auditing all accounts. The public health, the 
roads, canals, rivers, public buildings, the public records, 
the poor, all had officials to look after them. Clerics 
were expressly excluded from all offices except the 
control of the finances. 

Education, too, was provided for by the state. In the 
closing years of the thirteenth century there were public 

28 



434 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

chairs of law, physic, logic, grammar, canon law, and 
arithmetic in Verona, besides the ordinary grammar 
schools to be found in every Italian city. In civilisation 
Lombardy, at the opening of the fourteenth century, 
was, in spite of its never-ending feuds, far ahead of all 
other European lands. 



CHAPTER XV 

THE LAST STRUGGLES OF THE COMMUNES 

We must now return to the history of Milan and the 
adjacent cities. The death of Matteo Visconti in June, 
1322, was followed by a sudden decline in the fortunes 
of his house. The Papal legate, Bertrand de Poiet, had 
assembled a large army in order to attack Milan in 
case of the failure of the negotiations which he had 
opened with many of the leading citizens. In September 
the Rossi, who in 13 16 had united with the San Vitale 
to expel Ghiberto da Correggio from Parma, suddenly 
changed round, and joining with Ghiberto's sons expelled 
their former allies. Then they sent to the legate and 
gave the lordship of Parma to the Pope during the 
vacancy of the Empire. Reggio, which had been in 
Guelf hands since 131 1, followed this example and 
received a Papal Vicar as Governor. 

Thus strengthened by the adhesion of two important 
cities, the legate's power was still further increased in 
October by the capture of Piacenza. Galeazzo Visconti 
had grievously injured Verzusio, head of the Ghibelline 
Landi, and had driven him into exile. While Galeazzo 
was at Milan, trying to cope with the discontent pre- 
valent there, Landi obtained a large force of cavalry 
from Cardinal de Poiet, rode secretly to Piacenza, and 
was admitted by a breach made by his partisans within 
the walls. Galeazzo's young son Azzo, who had been 
left at Piacenza, escaped owing to the presence of mind 
of his mother, Beatrice of Este, who delayed the attack 
on her palace by scattering coin from the windows. 
While the Papal soldiers were occupied in gathering 
up the wealth thus showered on them Azzo had time to 

435 



436 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

reach the gates and escape. His mother, who remained 
behind, was restored to her husband under honourable 
escort. Piacenza then followed the example set by 
Parma and gave itself to the Pope. Verzusio Landi 
gained nothing from his change of front, except revenge. 
He and the other Ghibellines were expelled shortly 
afterwards by the Guelf Scotti and Fontana. 

In the meantime the legate was negotiating with some 
of the leading nobles of Milan who were jealous of the 
power of the Visconti, and disinclined to expose them- 
selves to war and excommunication to satisfy the 
ambition of one family. The malcontents gained over 
Lodrisio Visconti, cousin of Galeazzo, as well as the 
German mercenaries whose pay was in arrears. In 
November an insurrection broke out ; and Galeazzo, 
after a vain attempt at resistance, was forced to abandon 
the city and seek a refuge with his allies the Vistarini 
of Lodi. 

But the Milanese, now for more than sixty years 
accustomed to the rule of one man, were incapable of 
setting up any stable form of government in its stead. 
The nobles who had organised the revolution relied on 
the legate to supply the sums necessary for the pay 
of the mercenaries, while at the same time attempting to 
preserve the Ghibelline predominance. A Frenchman, 
claiming kinship with the Torriani, was made Captain 
of the People, but the Delia Torre and their partisans 
were not recalled. The legate, on his side, hoped to 
get full possession of the city, and withheld the promised 
money. The Guelfs in the Contado began to move, and 
seized Monza. 

The German mercenaries soon repented of their 
action ; and even Lodrisio Visconti began to see that 
by driving out Galeazzo he had only injured himself 
and all his family. The result was that Lodrisio invited 
Galeazzo back to Milan. He returned just a month 
after his expulsion, and was once more proclaimed 
Signore. 

His difficulties were not at an end. Cardinal de Poiet, 
having failed to get possession of Milan by peaceful 



THE LAST STRUGGLES 437 

means, now organised a great attack on the city. He 
possessed considerable ability as a diplomatist and ad- 
ministrator, and was soon at the head of a formidable 
army. The Pope had collected great sums of money 
from the clergy throughout all Western Europe for his 
enterprise against the Visconti and their partisans. Thus 
he was able to put in the field a large force of mer- 
cenaries from Germany and France. King Robert sent 
Proven9als and Neapolitans, and a skilful leader, the 
Aragonese Raymond of Cardona, Florence, Bologna, 
the Emilian cities, and the Communes of Piedmont 
which were under King Robert sent their contingents. 
The Delia Torre, Pagano, Patriarch of Aquileia at their 
head, came to the muster, as well as those Milanese 
nobles who had been most compromised in the rising 
against Galeazzo. In all the Papal army numbered 
eight thousand horse and thirty thousand foot. 

Spiritual weapons were also made use of. The 
Visconti, Estensi, and other Ghibelline lords were 
accused of heresy, condemned, and sentenced to be 
deprived of all their possessions. To those who joined 
the legate's army the same indulgences were granted 
as if they had joined a Crusade. 

In February, 1323, Tortona, in April Alessandria 
surrendered to Raymond of Cardona. The bulk of the 
Papal army had in the meantime entered the Milanese 
territory. By April a large number of the fortresses of 
the Contado, as well as the important town of Monza, 
were in its hands. By the middle of June it was in 
possession of the suburbs of Milan. 

Galeazzo's forces were sufficient to defend the walls, 
and it would seem that in this emergency he was able 
to rely on the loyalty of the burghers. But an unex- 
pected danger threatened him from his German 
mercenaries. The legate made them secret offers of 
great rewards if they would deliver up Galeazzo into 
his hands. There was little loyalty in the breasts of 
the mercenaries of that age, and the legate's proposals 
found a ready acceptance. The Germans rose suddenly 
and attempted to seize or kill the ruler of Milan. He, 



438 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

however, escaped to his fortified palace, and was able 
to secure it against the first assault of the mercenaries. 
Before they could force an entrance, Giovanni Visconti, 
Bishop of Novara, and at a later date Archbishop and 
lord of Milan, hurried to his brother's help with all 
the Italian troops he could collect. The Germans 
saw themselves surrounded by overwhelming forces 
and throwing down their arms, they sought for 
mercy. Galeazzo pardoned them, and as a sign of 
their repentance they induced ten companies of 
Germans serving in the Papal army to come over 
to the side of Visconti. 

Meanwhile Galeazzo had sent for help to Louis of 
Bavaria, whom the Pope had so far refused to 
recognise as lawful Emperor-elect. The danger of 
seeing Milan fall into the hands of the Pope, and so 
into those of King Robert, the most determined 
opponent of the rights of the Empire in Italy 
outweighed in Louis's mind the risk of an open 
breach with Rome. He sent to the legate, bidding 
him desist from his attack on a city under the 
Imperial protection, and followed this up by d jspatching 
a force of German cavalry, who successfully made their 
way into the beleaguered city. 

While Galeazzo was thus strengthened, the Guelf army 
was weakened by an outbreak of pestilence, the almost 
invariable result in those days of keeping an army in 
the field during the heats of the Lombard summer. 
Seeing no hope of reducing Milan, the Papal forces 
withdrew, after a siege of six weeks. Monza, as well 
as a number of castles in the Contado, still remained 
in their power. Galeazzo, now strong enough to take 
the field, proceeded to recover these. In February, 1324, 
his forces gained a decisive victory at Vaprio, and 
before the end of the year Monza was forced to 
surrender. 

During the next few years little of importance 
happened in Central Lombardy. Cane della Scala 
was, as we have seen, occupied with his projects for 
the conquest of Padua and Treviso. The Estensi 



THE LAST STRUGGLES 439 

were extending their power around Ferrara. In 1324 
they captured from the Archbishop of Ravenna the 
large town of Argenta, which in times past had 
formed a constant bone of contention between Ferrara 
and Ravenna. Next year Comacchio, buried among 
the marshes in the delta of the Po, gave itself to them, 
in order to put an end to the party strife within the 
walls.i Meantime Galeazzo was too weak, or too 
incapable, to attack the Guelf cities in his neighbour- 
hood. The pestilence which had broken out in the 
Guelf camp before Milan had been carried by the 
soldiers into the cities of both parties ; and its ravages, 
which were very great, had no doubt much to do with 
this cessation of hostilities. The legate, for his part, 
turned his chief attention to the affairs of Emilia and 
Romagna. 

It was chiefly in the cities south of the Po, from 
Piacenza to Bologna, that the old republican spirit 
still survived. Bologna had never known the rule of a 
tyrant. Its liberties had indeed been menaced by the 
ambition of Romeo dei Pepoli, who had made use of 
his great wealth — he was said to be the richest man in 
Italy — in order to gain supreme power. But the men 
at the head of the Commune were staunch republicans ; 
their prudence had taken the alarm in time, and Romeo 
was forced to fly from the city before his plans had 
advanced sufficiently for him to try any open stroke 
against the government. 

The four Emilian cities had all passed for a longer 
or shorter period under the power of a despot, but all 
had shaken off the yoKC. In these Communes which 
had recovered their freedom we mark a great increase 
of the power of the nobles. No doubt the popular 
organisations, the Arti, and the armed companies of 
the people had been abolished or restricted in their 

' Besides Ferrara, the Estensi now ruled Argenta, Comacchio, 
and Adria, in addition to their fiefs of Rovigo, Lendinaria, and the 
district of the Polesine between the Po and the Adige, which they 
held from the Empire. Este itself and the rest of their lands north 
of the Adige belonged to Padua. 



440 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

power by the tyrants. The nobles had played a chief 
part in recovering liberty, and were thus able to get 
from the start a preponderating position in the restored 
Commune. Besides, the importance in warfare of 
heavy cavalry was increasing all through the early 
fourteenth century, and, as we have seen, the Com- 
munes had to depend for this arm on mercenaries 
or on their own nobles. Infantry would no longer 
face heavy cavalry in the open field. The employ- 
ment of mercenary troops had been shown to be 
dangerous to the communal liberties. Hence the 
nobles were indispensable to the Communes, and re- 
covered in consequence the position they had lost 
during the second half of the thirteenth century. 

We have already seen how Verzusio Landi's desertion 
of the Ghibelline cause had put an end to the rule of 
the Visconti in Piacenza, and how that city, having 
recovered its liberty, had placed itself under the 
protection of the legate. Parma had expelled its 
despot in 1316, and had been for six years Ghibelline, 
under the rule of two of the leading houses, the 
Rossi and San Vitale. These quarrelled, and the Rossi, 
going back to the Guelf party, to which they had 
formerly adhered, expelled the San Vitale and the 
Ghibellines, and recalled the sons of Ghiberto da 
Correggio from exile. The people in these changes' 
seem to have blindly followed the lead of the nobles. ; 
In Reggio the downfall of the Estensi in 1306 had 
been followed by the recall of the Guelf Manfredi, 
Fogliani, and Roberti, and of the Ghibelline Sessi, 
who had all alike been in exile. For the next few 
years Reggio had been Ghibelline, and in alliance 
with Ghiberto da Correggio, who at this stage of his 
career posed as a Ghibelline. In 1310, just before 
the arrival of Henry VII. in Lombardy, the Sessi 
attacked the family of Canossa, a house which, like 
them, was Ghibelline. All the other nobles took the part 
of the Da Canossa ; the people, too, rose in arms on 
the same side ; and the Sessi were driven out after a 
fierce struggle in the streets. Restored early in 131 1 



THE LAST STRUGGLES 441 

by Henry VII., they were attacked by all the other 
nobles, seventeen days after their return, and were 
thrown into prison. They were released by Henry's 
Vicar after a few months, but next year we find 
them again at war with the Commune, which was now 
under the control of the Guelf Fogliani, Roberti, and 
Manfredi. Since that time Reggio had remained Guelf, 
and the Sessi had been continuously, the Da Canossa 
occasionally, in exile. The chronicler of Reggio inci- 
dentally tells us that the hostility between the Sessi 
and Fogliani had arisen from a private insult, that it 
lasted fifty-four years, and caused the deaths of two 
thousand people.^ 

Modena at this period was considered the most 
turbulent of the Lombard cities. Here again the 
nobles appear to have controlled the Commune after 
the expulsion of the Estensi. Three distinct factions 
meet us in this Commune. Besides the Aigoni, violent 
Guelfs, and the Grasulfi, Ghibellines, there were the 
nobles of Sassuolo and of Savignano and the Grassoni, 
which three families formed a party, Guelf indeed, 
but with Ghibelline leanings. The quarrels of these 
three factions kept the city in constant turmoil, increased 
by sudden outbreaks of dissension within the ranks of 
the parties, which led to frequent and puzzling changes 
of side on the part of individual families. 

Henry of Luxemburg's efforts to restore peace were 
not more successful in Modena than elsewhere. The 
Aigoni and Grasulfi did indeed form a league in 
131 1 ; but the result was that the da Sassuolo, the 
Savignani, and the Grassoni, fearing that the alliance 
was directed against them, left the city. Next year the 
four leading houses of the Aigoni were detected in an 
intrigue to give up the frontier fortresses to Bologna. 
Fearing an outburst of popular fury, they fled, and 
left the city to the Ghibellines. 

The two exiled factions were in possession of the 
chief castles of the Cv^ntado ; and the Aigoni and the 
Bolognese defeated the Ghibellines in the open field. 
' Gazata in " Muratori," vol. xviii. 



442 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

These, then, as we have ah-eady said, handed Modena 
over to Passerino Bonaccolsi, tyrant of Mantua. His 
rule was oppressive, and in 1218 the same Ghibelline 
nobles who had called him in raised the city against him 
and drove out his garrison.^ A distinctly oligarchic 
government was set up consisting of four Podestas 
chosen one from each of the leading Ghibelline noble 
families, and four " judices," or trained jurists. 

Concord did not last long. The moving spirit in the 
late revolution, Francesco Pico, lord of La Mirandola, 
expelled three of the chief families who had been among 
his supporters. They turned again to Passerino, and 
with him and Cane della Scala attacked the city, just six 
months after it had recovered its liberty. The Modenese 
repulsed the attack, but next year two more of the leading 
Ghibelline families left the city and rose in revolt. 
Francesco seems to have become now virtually despot 
of Modena, where his family were the only nobles whom 
successive revolutions had left within the walls. Pressed 
as he was on one side by Bologna and the Aigoni, on the 
other by Passerino and the Grasulfi, while the Da Sassuolo 
and their friends infested the plain from their strongholds 
of Sassuolo and Savignano, Francesco was unable to 
maintain himself.^ He determined to make terms with 
Passerino ; and in 13 19 Modena, after nearly two years 
of liberty, or rather anarchy, was handed over once more 
to the lord of Mantua. Francesco had, as he thought, 
amply provided for his own safety by a treaty which 
Passerino had sworn to observe. But in 1321 he was 
seized, with two of his sons, and thrown into a dungeon, 
where all three perished of hunger. 

This history of faction in Modena helps us to under- 
stand the severity of the laws by which Bologna and the 

' Passerino soon exiled most of the Ghibelline nobles, following in 
this the policy pursued by his house in Mantua, where the nobles of 
all parties had been crushed by Pinamonte Bonaccolsi. They were 
readmitted in 13 17. 

^ An amnesty had been proclaimed in 13 18, but the Aigoni and 
Da Sassuolo had either not ventured to return, or had been expelled 
again. 



THE LAST STRUGGLES 443 

Tuscan Communes strove to curb the power of the 
nobles. To be a noble in these cities was not only to 
be shut out from any part in the government, but to be 
subject to penal laws of the utmost rigour. Yet such was 
the vitality of the Italian noble houses, such the power 
gained for them by their wealth and skill in arms, that in 
scarcely any Commune except Florence were the nobles 
permanently kept under by the democracy. 

We can see plainly, also, how the constant feuds arising 
from the turbulence of the nobles rendered the rule of a 
despot acceptable to the mass of the people. The rule 
even of a Pinamonte or a Passerino Bonaccolsi meant at 
least the cessation of street fighting, and the equality of 
all under the yoke of a tyrant was some compensation to 
the general body of the burghers for their vanished 
liberty. 

Whether Modena was under a despot or free, under 
the rule of the commons or the nobles, the old feud with 
Bologna continued with unabated fury. The forces of 
the latter city, united with the exiled Modenese Guelfs, 
inflicted such damage to the border districts of Modena 
that Passerino in 1325 made a great effort to put a stop 
once for all to their ravages. Aided by a large body of 
cavalry and infantry from Ferrara under the Marquis 
Rinaldo of Este, as well as by auxiliaries from Verona 
and Milan, he advanced at the head of the Modenese and 
Mantuans against the army of Bologna, which was be- 
sieging Monte Veglio, a castle in the Bolognese Contado, 
which had lately come into his possession. 

Accounts differ widely as to the numbers of the 
opposing forces. It seems certain, however, that the 
thirty thousand infantry of Bologna— this seems to be 
the number that that city habitually sent into the field 
—far outnumbered the foot-soldiers of Modena and her 
allies. In cavalry, then the most important arm, the two 
armies were more equal ; indeed, it would seem that the 
auxiliaries from Verona, Ferrara, and Milan gave Pas- 
serino the superiority. As almost always, whenever 
Modena and Bologna met in a pitched battle, fortune 
favoured the former. The Bolognese were routed with 



444 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

a loss of over two thousand slain, a number very great 
for Italian warfare, and one thousand five hundred 
prisoners and an immense booty fell into the hands of 
the victors. The Ghibelline army then advanced to 
Bologna, and devastated all the surrounding country. 
As a sign of victory three races were run under the walls 
of the city, one in honour of Azzo, son of Galeazzo 
Visconti, whose cavalry had had an important part in 
the fight, one in honour of Passerino, and one in honour 
of the lord of Este, who had held the supreme command 
in the field. 

The battle led to peace early in the following year 
between Bologna and Modena. Passerino, insecure in 
his position both in Modena and Mantua, and perhaps 
already on bad terms with Cane della Scala, consented to 
terms very favourable to Bologna. Already a storm was 
threatening to break on him from another quarter. 

The Papal legate, secure in the possession of Piacenza, 
Parma, and Reggio, determined to attempt the conquest 
of Modena. In his army were the Aigoni, the da Sas- 
suolo and their two allied families, and the Ghibelline 
Pichi della Mirandola. Under Verzusio Landi, the Guelfs 
soon overran the Contado of Modena. Only the city and 
two castles remained in the power of Passerino. The 
Visconti and Estensi tried to bring help to the Modenese, 
but failed. Passerino was routed, and part of the Mantuan 
territory invaded. The result was that the Ghibelline 
nobles in Modena, seeing no help coming from outside, 
rose against Passerino's garrison, and in June, 1327, 
forced them to quit the city. Then sending to the 
legate they soon arranged terms of peace. Modena 
was to remain in the hands of the Ghibellines. The 
exiled " Plebeians " were to be readmitted, thirty only 
excepted. To the nobles their lands were restored, but 
they were not to come nearer than two miles to the city. 
The chronicler thinks it worthy of remark that this peace 
lasted two years and five months. 

Louis of Bavaria had been excommunicated by the 
Pope and declared incapable of the Imperial crown 
immediately after the help given by him to Galeazzo 



THE LAST STRUGGLES 445 

Visconti. The victory of Miihldorf had left him supreme 
in Germany, and the GhibeUine lords of Italy had since 
been urging him to come into the peninsula to defend 
them against King Robert and the Guelfs, and to be 
crowned at Milan and in Rome. In February, 1327, 
he reached Trent, where he conferred with the GhibeUine 
chiefs of Lombardy and Tuscany or their ambassadors. 
He reached Milan in May, and on the last day of the 
month received the Iron Crown from the hands of three 
excommunicated Bishops in the presence of a great 
assembly of Ghibellines. Not two months afterwards, 
to the astonishment of every one, he seized Galeazzo, 
with his brothers Lucchino and Giovanni, and his son 
Azzo, forced them by threats of death to surrender their 
fortresses into his hands, and imprisoned them in the 
dungeons Galeazzo himself had constructed in the castle 
of Monza. Then he set up a republican form of govern- 
ment in Milan, under twenty-four nobles, who were, 
however, controlled by a German Governor. The cause 
of this extraordinary procedure seems to have been the 
accusations brought against Galeazzo by his brother 
Marco and his cousin Lodrisio. Both were jealous of 
Galeazzo, and declared — it would seem with some founda- 
tion — that he was secretly negotiating with the Pope in 
order to betray the Ghibellines. The other GhibeUine 
despots, and notably Cane della Scala, would appear to 
have joined in the accusation. In fact Cane seems to 
have had hopes of obtaining possession of Milan. 

The other towns which had been subject to Milan 
recovered their independence, under the rule of the 
leading GhibeUine families. The Beccheria of Pavia 
and the Tornielli of Novara received the title of Imperial 
Vicar, as did also the Rusconi, who had ruled Como since 
131 T. Then Louis, having received large sums of 
money from the Milanese and the GhibeUine lords, 
departed for Rome, where he was crowned Emperor 
in January, 1328. 

This same year, 1328, saw the downfall of two of the 
tyrant houses of Lombardy. The Vistarini of Lodi, who 
had expelled Antonio Fisiraga and the family of Som- 



446 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

mariva in 13 ii, had since that date ruled the city with 
the utmost cruelty. Those who excited their jealousy 
were cast into the dungeons of their palace and left to die 
of hunger. The cries of the victims, which pierced to 
the banqueting hall of the tyrants, only excited their 
laughter. 

Among the chief ministers of their cruelties was a man 
named Tremacoldo, originally a miller, whose wickedness 
had recommended him to their confidence. He had 
been promoted to be captain of the guard and entrusted 
with the keys of one of the gates. But the tyrants had 
set no limits to their vices, and one of them had violated 
Tremacoldo's niece. Unable to obtain justice he deter- 
mined on revenge. One night he introduced a large 
body of armed partisans into the city, and with cries of 
" Viva il Popolo ! " hastened towards the palace of the 
Vistarini. They were quite unprepared for attack, and 
six of them fell into his hands without resistance. 
He then cast them into their own dungeons and left 
them there to die of hunger like so many of their 
victims. 

Equally sudden was the overthrow of the Bonaccolsi, 
who for more than half a century had ruled Mantua. 
Passerino, the then head of the family, had made himself 
odious by his tyranny. His sons surpassed him in vice ; 
neither the honour nor the property of the citizens was 
safe from their attacks. An insult offered to the wife of 
one of the Gonzaga, an ancient noble family deep in the 
confidence of the tyrant, led to a conspiracy against him. 
Cane della Scala had for some time past been jealous of 
Passerino's power, or perhaps disgusted by his cruelties. 
He promised his help to the Gonzaga, and sent a force of 
eleven hundred men, who, along with a large body of 
peasants from the Gonzaga estates, entered the city by 
night through a gate which one of the conspirators had 
caused to be opened. Passerino endeavoured to summon 
his friends to arms, but was killed, together with one of 
his sons. Some other members of the Bonaccolsi family 
were handed over to Niccolo Pico della Mirandola, who 
starved them to death in the same castle in which his 



;^V\^ 




Mantua. 
Palace of the Bosaccolsi. 



446. 



THE LAST STRUGGLES 447 

father, Francesco Pico, had suffered the like fate by 
Passerino's orders. Luigi Gonzaga was then elected 
Signore of Mantua, and made Imperial Vicar by Louis. 
His descendants received from the Emperor the title of 
Marquis, and, and at a later period, that of Duke of 
Mantua, which city they ruled until the early eighteenth 
century. 

Louis of Bavaria during his career in Germany had 
shown himself honourable and prudent. In Italy, how- 
ever, his conduct was such as soon to alienate a large 
number of his supporters. He showed himself greedy of 
money, ready to sacrifice the interests of the future to a 
momentary advantage, and, above all, perfidious and 
ungrateful to his partisans. Contrary to his plighted 
word, he handed Pisa over to Castruccio Castracane, the 
celebrated despot of Lucca. He quarrelled with Bishop 
Guido Tarlati, the valorous Ghibelline lord of Arezzo. 
The first of the despots of the Papal states to declare in 
his favour was Silvestro dei Gatti of Viterbo. In return 
he was deprived of the lordship of the city, and tortured 
until he revealed to the Emperor the hiding-place of his 
treasure. But it was his treatment of the Visconti which 
Louis found hardest to justify in the eyes of his sup- 
porters. 

At length, yielding to the prayers of Castruccio Castra- 
cani and other Ghibelline leaders, he ordered the release 
of Galeazzo and his fellow prisoners, and summoned 
them to join him in Tuscany. There Galeazzo took part 
in the siege of Pistoia ; but, weakened by his captivity, 
he was unable to bear the rigours of the campaign, and 
died a few months after his release, in August, 1328. Of 
all the Visconti he seems to have had the least capacity, 
and was certainly the most unfortunate. 

Louis, after his coronation in Rome, found himself 
unable to effect anything of importance against King 
Robert or the Florentines. He decided, therefore, to 
return to Lombardy. His chief difficulty was want of 
money. Azzo, son of Galeazzo Visconti, who, with his 
uncles Marco and Giovanni, was with the Emperor in 
Pisa, offered him 60,000 or, as some say, 125,000 florins, 



448 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

if he would name him Vicar in Milan. The bargain was 
concluded in January, 1329, and Azzo at once returned to 
Milan. Here he was received without any opposition by 
the citizens ; and thus the metropolis of Lombardy came 
once more under the sway of the Visconti. The spirit of 
liberty was dead in Milan, which henceforward was ruled 
by the Visconti until the death of the last male descendant 
of il inagno Matteo. 

With the idea of strengthening himself in his contest 
against the Guelfs, Louis had proclaimed the deposition 
of Pope John, and had set up an Antipope of his own 
choosing. This measure, commonly employed two cen- 
turies before in the struggles between the Empire and 
Papacy, was useless in the fourteenth century. The time 
had long gone by when the theory that an Emperor 
could depose a Pope found a strong body of supporters 
in Italy. Louis's action met with but little approval from 
the Ghibellines — in fact, it alienated from him many of 
his partisans. 

The most important defection from his side was that 
of the Marquises of Este. They had always professed 
their willingness to submit to the Pope if only he would 
recognise their rule in Ferrara. An embassy which they 
sent to Avignon in 1328 brought about a reconciliation. 
In return for the admission that they ruled Ferrara as 
Vicars of the Church, and the payment of an annual 
tribute of 10,000 florins, they were freed from all eccle- 
siastical censures. The final details of the treaty were 
not settled until 1332. Henceforward the House of Este 
ruled over Ferrara and the smaller cities of Comacchio 
and Adria with unquestioned authority. 

The example of the Estensi was followed by Azzo 
Visconti. He was disgusted by Louis's treatment of his 
family, as well as anxious for a reconciliation with the 
Church. As soon, therefore, as he found himself secure 
in the lordship of Milan, he opened secret negotiations 
with the Pope. These did not bear full fruit until the 
next year; but when, in April, 1329, Louis of Bavaria 
again arrived in Lombardy, he found his authority 
openly defied by Azzo. In vain the Emperor endea- 



THE LAST STRUGGLES 449 

voured to force him to submit. He advanced with his 
army to the gates of Milan, but a siege was impossible 
with the forces at his disposal. Azzo, however, had no 
desire to push matters to extremities. On payment of a 
large sum he was received again into the Emperor's 
friendship ; and Louis withdrew first to Pavia, then to 
the district south of the Po. 

Here another sudden change of front had brought 
Parma and Reggio again over to the Ghibellines. In 
every city which had come under a despot we find the 
old party lines more or less blotted out. The tyrant 
changed sides as best suited his own interests, the 
partisans of liberty became Guelf or Ghibelline in 
opposition to whatever side the tyrant favoured. 

When Ghiberto da Correggio first got himself elected 
Signore of Parma, he, though of a Guelf family, had 
allied himself with the Ghibellines. His chief adversaries 
had been the Rossi, a noble family — one of those which 
had first started a Guelf party in Parma, and had brought 
about the revolt of the city from Frederick II. in 1247. 
When Ghiberto had revolted from Henry VII. the Rossi 
joined the Visconti and other Ghibellines. Together 
with the San Vitale they expelled Ghiberto in 13 16. 
Then Parma was, as we have said, Ghibelline for six 
years, until, in order to get complete control of the city, 
the Rossi drove out the San Vitale, and went over to the 
Guelfs. Finding their authority hampered by that of the 
legate, who placed a Papal garrison in Parma, they 
changed sides once again. In August, 1328, they stirred 
up a tumult, and expelled the Papal Governor and his 
garrison. 

Next day they marched on Reggio. The Papal 
Governor of that city— Reggio, like Parma and Pia- 
cenza, had given itself to the Church until the election 
of a lawful Emperor— had hanged a thief who was a 
dependent of the family of the Fogliani. In revenge 
they and the Manfredi assassinated the Governor in his 
private oratory, and then retired to their country castles. 
This was a few months before the revolution in Parma. 
Now the Fogliani and Manfredi joined the Rossi, and 

29 



460 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

seized Reggio without meeting any opposition. The 
third of the great Guelf families — the Roberti — was 
imprisoned, and Reggio too became GhibeUine. 

On the approach of the Emperor the Modenese Ghibel- 
hnes began to rejoice. One said to the other, " How 
happy are we to Hve at the present time ! This is the day 
which our fathers waited for in vain. The men of Parma 
and Reggio, always hostile to the Emperor, now rally to 
his rule ; much more ought we to call him in, we who 
have at all times been faithful to him ; let us see him for 
an instant and then die. Our fathers move in their 
tombs, their hearts beat once more." One said, "I have 
two sons : I would give one of them if I might see the 
Germans ;" another, still more carried away by his feel^ 
ings, exclaimed, " Only to touch the garments of one of 
them, I would allow all that I have to be given over to 
headlong ruin." Many went out to meet the Germans, 
crying out, " Here is the day we have long wished for ; 
here is the day our fathers long desired to see." 

With such words does the chronicler of Modena bring 
before us the intensity of the devotion which the Emperor 
was still capable of inspiring in Italy. Louis placed 
German garrisons in the three Emilian cities. In 
Modena their outrageous conduct soon showed the 
people how mistaken had been their enthusiasm. This 
was his last act in Italy. In December, 1329, he went 
to Trent to arrange for fresh supplies of men and money 
from Germany. But the news he received from that 
country caused him to pursue his journey north of the 
Alps. He quitted Italy for ever, leaving behind him 
a name odious alike to both the factions of the 
peninsula. 

We have now come to the last scene of our story. 
Liberty was extinct over most of Lombardy. The 
brothers Mastino and Alberto ruled over the four cities 
of the Mark and the lesser towns of Feltre and Belluno. 
Ferrara under the Estensi, Mantua under the Gonzaga, 
had definitely lost their freedom. Bologna, while retain- 
ing its republican institutions, had given itself in 1327 to 
the legate. Cardinal de Poiet. Bologna had always been 



THE LAST STRUGGLES 451 

admittedly a part of the dominions of the Church ; but 
for centuries the Popes had had no authority over the 
Commune. From Bologna the legate extended his 
sway over the greater part of Romagna, the despots 
who had seized on the cities being expelled or forced 
to acknowledge his overlordship. 

Modena, Reggio, and Parma were still nominally re- 
publican, and had formed a league against the legate. 
Piacenza was in much the same condition as Bologna. 
Tortona, Alessandria, and the smaller towns of Piedmont 
were more or less subject to King Robert of Naples. In 
Asti the Guelf nobles, the Solarii and their partisans, 
were supreme. 

Almost all Central Lombardy was Ghibelline. Azzo 
Visconti, without abandoning that party, had been recon- 
ciled with the Pope in 1330. He resigned the title of 
Imperial Vicar, and to make up for this got himself 
elected in the same year lord of Milan for his life. Of 
the other cities some, under the rule of a leading family, 
such as the Tornielli in Novara and the Beccheria in 
Pavia, preserved some vestiges of freedom. Others were 
under despots. Tremacoldo ruled Lodi, Ravizza Rusca 
Como. 

North of the Po Brescia alone was still free and still 
Guelf, under the protection of Robert of Naples. The 
Ghibelline faction, expelled in 13 15, had maintained 
themselves in the Contado by the help of the neigh- 
bouring lords, Scaligers, Bonaccolsi, and Visconti. In 
1330 they induced the lords of Verona and Milan to 
make a determined effort to restore them to their homes. 
The Brescian Guelfs, ringed round by hostile cities, saw 
no hope of effectual aid from King Robert, and but 
little prospect of resisting the forces brought against 
them. In their extremity they heard that King John 
of Bohemia was in Tyrol engaged in negotiations with 
the Duke of Carinthia, and sent to offer him the lordship 
of their city for life in return for his help. 

John was the eldest son of the Emperor Henry of 
Luxemburg. He had married one of the daughters of 
the last native King of Bohemia, and he had obtained 



452 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

the kingdom from his father as a vacant fief of the 
Empire, as well as by the choice of the Bohemians 
themselves. He was of a brave and generous nature, 
eager above all things to shine in tournaments and win 
glory as a knight. He preferred the brilliant courts of 
the West to his new kingdom, the administration of 
which he entrusted to his friend the Count of Lippe, 
while he himself wandered through the world in search 
of adventures. 

King John accepted the offer of the Brescians ; and 
entering their city with a force of cavalry on the last 
day of the year 1330, he was proclaimed lord of Brescia 
amidst general rejoicings. A sudden wave of enthusiasm 
passed all over Lombardy at this news. The courteous 
manners of King John, his noble bearing, his impartiality 
were everywhere extrolled. As before in the days of 
his father Henry, so now city after city looked to a 
German prince to free them from faction. Not a fort- 
night after his arrival in Brescia Bergamo, torn by 
party conflicts, proclaimed him Signore. Cremona and 
Crema at once followed this example. In February 
Pavia, Novara, and Vercelli, without any solicitation on 
his part, put themselves under his rule. The lords of 
Como and of Milan itself felt forced to go with the 
tide, and took the title of his Vicars. In March he 
went to Parma, on the invitation of the citizens ; from 
there he went to Reggio and Modena, and received the 
lordship of all three cities. Even distant Lucca, hard 
pressed by the Florentines, sought and found safety 
under his sway. 

Thus, in a few months. King John had built up an 
extensive dominion. The Marquis of Montferrat and 
the Count of Savoy were his allies ; ambassadors came 
to seek his friendship from the lords of Mantua and 
Verona. His rapid success recalled the early career of 
his father in Italy ; like him he was to experience how 
unstable were the Italians. 

The Pope had professed indignation at John's inter- 
ference in the affairs of the peninsula, and had sent 
letters to protest against it. But it soon became known 



THE LAST STRUGGLES 453 

that the King had had a private interview with the 
Cardinal de Poiet on the confines of Modena and 
Bologna, and that they had parted on friendly terms. 
It was rumoured that Pope and King were secretly in 
league. John was to build up a dominion in Lombardy, 
which was to put an end to the despots, form a barrier 
against Louis of Bavaria and be a counterpoise to 
the power of Robert of Naples, from whom the Pope 
was anxious to shake himself free. The Papal legate 
was, on the other hand, to bring all the cities in the 
states of the Church directly under the obedience of 
the Holy See. The despots were to be deposed and 
the Guelf and Ghibelline parties put down everywhere. 
Guelfs and GhibeUines had united to welcome King 
John. Now the Italians saw with amazement Ghibelline 
lords, Guelf Communes, and the King of Naples all 
allied against him. The great Lombard lords — Visconti, 
Delia Scala, Gonzaga, and Este — were the first to op- 
pose him. They feared that he was building up a 
power in Lombardy which would bring about their 
ruin. Accordingly they entered into a league to bring 
about his downfall. The Florentines, angered at the 
loss of Lucca, and seeing in John above all the son of 
their old enemy Henry of Luxemburg, soon adhered 
to the League, and drew in King Robert, who saw his 
position in North Italy threatened. John's conduct made 
matters easy for the confederates. His proceedings had 
irritated many who had at first welcomed him. Brought 
up in the midst of German feudalism, he was unable 
to understand the spirit of the burghers of the Italian 
Communes. He conferred castles and lands belonging 
to the cities on the nobles who were his partisans or 
even on his German followers. He increased the power 
of the nobles within the walls, he exempted some of 
those outside from the jurisdiction of the Communes. 
Even the impartiality with which he strove to restore 
the exiles everywhere, though it pleased the more 
moderate, excited the resentment of the more factious. 
While opposition was thus springing up everywhere 
against him, John was recalled to Bohemia by an 



454 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

attack made on that kingdom by Louis of Bavaria 
and all the neighbouring princes. He soon made peace 
with these, and then, instead of returning to Italy, went 
to Avignon to confer with the Pope, 

His absence left free scope to his enemies. They 
drew up a regular treaty of partition to decide the fate 
of the cities which had given themselves to King John. 
By this arrangement Cremona and Bergamo were to 
fall to Azzo Visconti, Brescia and Parma to Mastino 
della Scala, Reggio to the lord of Mantua, Modena to the 
House of Este. 

If John had remained in Italy, backed as he was by 
those Communes which feared to fall under the yoke 
of the despot of a neighbouring city, he might very 
probably have held his own against the confederates. 
His absence, however, allowed them ample time to 
organise their attack. His first loss was that of Brescia, 
the city which had been the first to call him in. 

King John had recalled the exiled Ghibellines to 
Brescia, contrary to the terms on which the lordship 
of the city had been offered to him. He had also freed 
certain districts of the Contado from the authority of 
the Commune. These actions so angered the Brescian 
Guelfs that they opened negotiations with the Ghibelline 
Mastino della Scala, offering him the lordship of the 
city if he would give them vengeance on the Ghibellines. 
He accepted their offer ; and Italy saw with amazement 
a double infamy. The Brescian Guelfs sacrificed the 
liberty of their country in order to obtain a triumph 
over the adverse faction. The lord of Verona handed 
his own partisans over to the vengeance of their enemies 
in order to add one more to the list of his subject 
cities. 

The gates of Brescia were opened to Mastino's troops 
in June, 1332, and a few weeks later King John's 
garrison surrendered the castle also. In accordance 
with his compact Mastino allowed the Guelfs to murder 
and plunder the Ghibellines for three days without any 
check. Public opinion was universally aroused against 
Mastino for his conduct, and his brother Alberto left 



THE LAST STRUGGLES 455 

the city in indignation. This ineffectual protest is almost 
the only action that history records to the credit of 
Alberto, who usually devoted himself to pleasure, leaving 
all affairs to his brother. Thus ignominiously ended 
the long and glorious career of the Commune of 
Brescia. 

The turn of Bergamo came in the following September. 
The factions were again at one another's throats when 
Azzo Visconti invested the city. It came into his hands, 
but whether by force of arms or by a treaty is uncertain. 
Thus one more was blotted out from the list of the 
Lombard Communes. 

In the November of the same year the Beccheria 
stirred up a revolt in Pavia against King John's authority. 
Azzo hastened to the city and took possession of it, 
shutting up the royal garrison in the fortress which 
Matteo had constructed. The Beccheria once again 
controlled Pavia, recognising, however, Azzo's over- 
lordship. 

Azzo's power was still more increased by the acquisi- 
tion of Novara and Vercelli. The latter city was handed 
over to him in 1334 by the dominant Ghibelline party. 
In Novara the Bishop, Azzo's uncle, Giovanni, overthrew 
by an ingenious stratagem the rule of the Tornielli, who 
had given the city to King John, and opened the gates to 
his nephew's troops. 

Elsewhere the leagued despots were not so successful. 
Cremona, Modena, Reggio, and Parma, in close alliance 
with one another, made a valiant fight for liberty under 
King John's son Charles, whom he had left in Italy 
as his lieutenant. They were also leagued with the 
Papal legate, who had under him Piacenza, Bologna, 
and all Romagna. An attack on Modena made by the 
Estensi and Gonzaga, with help from Verona and Milan, 
failed. Nearly all the Modenese nobles were again in 
exile ; but the people were enthusiastic in defence of 
their liberty, and gave loyal support to Manfredi dei Pii, 
who ruled the city for the King. 

In November, 1332, the whole force of Modena, 
strengthened by reinforcem.ents of horse from the legate, 



456 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

and from Reggio and Parma, sallied out to attack the 
confederate lords who were besieging the castle of San 
Felice. After a long conflict the bravery of the Modenese 
infantry, who faced and overthrew the hostile cavalry, 
decided the victory. An immense booty, with many 
prisoners of importance, fell into their hands ; and, as 
a consequence of the battle, the territory of Ferrara was 
given up to pillage. 

When King John, in the early spring of the following 
year, returned to Italy, furnished with money and a 
large force of French cavalry, he was able to take the 
offensive. He failed, however, to raise the siege of 
the castle of Pavia, which surrendered in June to the 
Visconti, or to recapture Bergamo ; and, though he laid 
waste a great part of the territory of Milan, he was 
unable to provoke Azzo to a pitched battle. In the 
meantime a great disaster had fallen on his ally the 
legate. 

The latter, following up the victory of the Modenese, 
had laid siege to Ferrara. For nine weeks the city was 
hard pressed ; but at last the allied lords succeeded in 
introducing a large relieving force within the walls. 
Then suddenly sallying out, they surprised the camp 
of the legate, who was quite unprepared for any attack. 
The besieging army was utterly routed ; thousands were 
slain or drowned in the Po ; most of the great lords 
of Romagna who were serving under the banner of the 
Church were captured. 

The legate refused to advance the money required 
for the ransom of these prisoners, with the result that 
the Marquises of Este induced them to secede from 
his party. The Romagnol lords — Malatesta of Rimini, 
Da Polenta of Ravenna, Ordellaffi of Forli, to name 
the most important — were thereupon freed without 
ransom, together with their vassals and friends. One 
and all they set to work to recover the cities of which 
they had formerly been despots. In three months almost 
the whole of Romagna was in revolt against the Cardinal, 
and the cities had returned to the rule of their former 
lords. 



THE LAST STRUGGLES 457 

This overthrow of the legate put an end to Lombard 
freedom. King John made a truce with his enemies. 
He had wearied of his ItaHan enterprise, and sought 
now only to raise as much money as possible by the 
sale of the cities still under his lordship. He sold Parma 
and Lucca to the Rossi, Reggio to the Fogliani, Modena 
to the Pii, Cremona to Ponzino Ponzoni ; and in 
October, 1333, he quitted Italy, to resume elsewhere 
the quest for glory which led him when old and blind 
to meet his death in the melee at Crecy. 

His departure left the confederate lords free to con- 
tinue their project for the partition of Lombardy. The 
four cities which had continued faithful to John were, 
however, resolved not to resign their freedom without 
a struggle. For a time they held their own. The people 
of Reggio gained a considerable victory in the open 
country. The Rossi of Parma corrupted the German 
mercenaries serving with the confederates, and arranged 
that they were to seize the despots and hand them over 
to their adversaries. The plot was discovered, with, 
however, the result that the army which had invaded 
the territory of Parma broke up in confusion, and that a 
large body of Germans went over to the Rossi. 

These advantages were more than counterbalanced by 
the revolt of Bologna from the legate. The intrigues 
of the Estensi with some of the leading noble families 
in Bologna seem to have brought about this revolt. 
It is noticeable that, in spite of the severity of the laws 
meant to curb their power, the Bolognese nobles had 
by now recovered a great deal of their former political 
importance. 

While the legate had sent most of his mercenaries 
out of the city to resist an incursion from the side of 
Ferrara, the leaders of the plot called the people to arms 
with cries of '' Long live the People ! Death to the 
Legate ! " All the French soldiers found in the streets 
were massacred. The legate and his officials shut 
themselves up in the strong fortress which he had 
induced the people to build for him under the pretext 
that the Pope intended to take up his residence in 



458 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

Bologna if a fitting dwelling were provided for him. 
The Marquises of Este at once sent a force to support 
the rising and to aid in besieging the castle. This defied 
all their efforts until the Florentines, moved by respect 
for the legate, sent an embassy which secured for him 
a free departure with all his followers and treasures, and 
for the Bolognese the surrender of the castle. Bologna 
now joined the league of the Lombard despots. The 
revolt from the Church brought little good to the city. 
In two months' time the factions of the Scacchesi and 
the Maltraversi were fighting in the streets ; fifteen hundred 
of the latter were banished, and the road was prepared 
for a tyrant. 

In April of the same year, 1334, Azzo Visconti attacked 
Cremona with thirty thousand men.^ The city was now 
under the rule of Ponzino Ponzoni. Constant dissen- 
sions had so weakened the old rival of Milan that the 
chronicler of Reggio tells us that in 1323 there were 
scarcely twelve hundred men able to bear arms in the 
city, whereas a few years before there had been ten 
thousand.2 Some years of peace had partially repaired 
these losses ; but Ponzoni saw no hope of resisting 
Azzo's forces. He offered to surrender if not relieved 
by King John before a certain day. King John had 
definitely turned his back on Italian affairs ; no help 
came. July, 1334, saw the end of the independence 
of Cremona. 

Next year it was the turn of Parma and Reggio. The 
Rossi, who ruled the former city and Lucca, saw that 
it was useless to contend with the forces against them. 
Accordingly they made a treaty with Mastino della Scala, 
yielding up the two cities to him, and retaining in full 
sovereignty Pontremoli and many castles. In June, 

' From 1328 to 1330 Cremona had been free under an Imperial 
Vicar. Then Marsilio Rossi of Parma was Signore for a year. 
Then followed the rule of King John of Bohemia, who sold it to 
Ponzino Ponzoni. 

^ He also tells us that he had seen so many exiles from Cremona 
in Reggio that they could find no room in the houses, but had to 
live under the colonnades, where they were kindly tended by the 
people of Reggio. 



THE LAST STRUGGLES 459 

1335, the General Council of Parma was called together 
and elected Mastino as their lord. In December of the 
same year he took possession of Lucca. 

The Fogliani had expelled or imprisoned their former 
allies, the Manfredi, in 1333, and had thereupon been 
elected lords of Reggio. Now, after the surrender of 
Parma, Alberto della Scala invaded the Reggian territory, 
sacking and burning everywhere. 

The Fogliani saw that further resistance was impossible, 
and in return for a sum of money and the recognition 
of their independent rule over certain castles, they 
surrendered the city. According to the treaty Reggio 
was handed over to the Gonzaga, but Mastino forced 
them to acknowledge that they held it from him as 
a fief. 

In the meantime Azzo Visconti was extending his 
rule. The Rusconi of Como, hard pressed by the Guelf 
exiles, and hated by the people, saw themselves forced 
to hand over that city to Azzo, retaining for themselves 
the lordship of Bellinzona and the lands round the 
northern end of Lago Maggiore. Then Azzo turned 
against Tremacoldo, the tyrant* of Lodi. The citizens 
welcomed him as a liberator. Lodi was joined to the 
dominions of the Visconti, and Tremacoldo ended his 
days in Milan. We can form some estimate of what 
his government had been by the fact that Azzo now 
restored no less than three thousand exiles to this small 
city. In October of the same year Crema capitulated to 
the Visconti. 

There still remained Modena and Piacenza. The 
former city was determined to resist. But one by one 
the castles of the Contado were taken by the Estensi. 
Nearly all the nobles had been exiled, and were in the 
ranks of the assailants. The city itself was closely 
blockaded. The Pii therefore resolved to treat for a sur- 
render. In May, 1336, Modena opened its gates to the 
Marquises ot Lste. The exiles of all parties were restored, 
and the distracted city at last found internal peace.^ 

' Eleven noble families, of all factions, came back from exile 
to Modena. To Reggio came back Ugolino dei Sessi and his five 



460 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

The Pii retained, in accordance with the terms of 
surrender, their town and lands of Carpi as an indepen- 
dent lordship, and ruled there for some centuries with 
considerable splendour. In like manner the Pichi were 
recognised as sovereigns over their town of La Miran- 
dola and its district. In this way some of the feudal 
lords who had been forced to submit to the Communes, 
now that the Communes were no more, recovered their 
liberty. 

Francesco, son of Alberto Scotto, had in July, 1335* 
expelled the Fontana and other leading Guelfs, and made 
himself master of Piacenza. He had been helped in this 
by Azzo Visconti, who asserted that Francesco had pro- 
mised to acknowledge him as lord. Francesco refused, 
and Azzo set to work to reduce Piacenza by force of 
arms. Personal interests had so far superseded the old 
party divisions that the exiled Guelfs joined Azzo's army. 
Piacenza fought bravely to preserve her independence. 
For eight months the city held out. Then, seeing all 
hope gone, Francesco surrendered. He kept for himself 
the castle of Firenzuola ; Piacenza itself in December, 
1336, accepted Azzo as lord. 

In each city that the confederate Lombard despots had 
thus acquired they built a castle to keep down any 
attempt at revolt. To each city, too, they recalled the 
exiles. No longer basing their power on the prevalence 
of a faction, they ruled impartially over Guelf and Ghibel- 
line. Liberty was gone ; but in its stead the cities 
received the gift of internal peace and of an orderly 
government to which they had long been strangers.^ 

sons, who had been in exile time out of mind. The Sessi had been 
in almost continual exile for seventy years, but still remained rich 
and powerful. 

* Many small lordships originated in this way during the fourteenth 
century. Thus, besides Mirandola and Carpi, Correggio, Guastalla, 
and Novellara, were all capitals of small independent states. The 
upper Val di Taro was ruled by the Landi as an Imperial fief : the 
Pelavicini held Busseto and the adjoining district. 

^ Azzo Visconti, by all accounts, was a pious, just, and clement 
prince, a lover of peace, making no distinction between Guelf and 
Ghibelline. 



THE LAST STRUGGLES 461 

Of all the Communes which had united to resist Bar- 
barossa, only Bologna and the cities of Piedmont still 
retained their freedom. But their hour, too, had come. 
In 1337 the mercenary soldiers in Bologna, corrupted by 
the gold of Taddeo dei Pepoli, rushed to the Piazza and 
proclaimed him Signore. Some attempt was made at 
resistance ; the partisans of the Pepoli were, however, 
too powerful, and Bologna for the first time sank beneath 
a tyrant. 

The cities of Piedmont, apart from the general current 
of Lombard affairs, had so far preserved their liberties, 
under the protection of King Robert of Naples. Now 
they were to share the common lot. Already, in 1316, 
Casale, which had more than once acknowledged that it 
formed part of the dominions of the Marquises of Mont- 
ferrat, but which nevertheless had constantly striven for 
independence, definitely resigned its liberty to the Mar- 
quis Theodore, and became the capital of his states. In 
1344 Ivrea, and three years later Valenza, a small town 
on the borders of Montferrat and Pavia, which had for a 
time managed to establish a Commune, gave themselves 
to the Marquis Giovanni. Both places adopted this 
expedient as the only means of securing internal peace. 
The historian of Montferrat gives a curious list of the 
nobles and commons who swore fidelity to the Marquis 
in the name of the Guelf and Ghibelline parties. 

Asti had long been Guelf, under King Robert's protec- 
tion. The leading Guelf family, the Solarii, so abused 
their power that their chief partisans deserted them, and 
plotted with the Ghibelline exiles to hand the city over to 
Montferrat. Accordingly King Robert's garrison and the 
Solarii were expelled, and the Marquis Giovanni added 
Asti to his dominions in 1339. The Solarii were so 
powerful in the Contado, where they held twenty-four 
castles, that the Marquis found he could not keep the 
city. Accordingly, a year or two after, he sold it to 
Lucchino Visconti, Azzo's uncle and successor. 

About the same time as Asti, her old rival Alessandria 
sought internal peace under the rule of the lord of Milan. 

The death of King Robert in 1343 was the final ruin 



462 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

of the Guelf cause in Piedmont. Chieri and Alba, 
together with the small towns and districts which had for 
nearly a century been subject to the House of Anjou, 
came into the hands of the Counts of Savoy. Tortona 
and Bobbio, both of which had so far maintained them- 
selves by Robert's help, fell to Lucchino Visconti.^ 

The story of the Lombard Communes shapes itself at 
first round the rivalry between Milan and Pavia. It is 
perhaps fitting that we should end that story with the 
tale of the last despairing struggle of the capital of the 
Lombard kings against her Roman rival, although in 
point of time this final conflict lies outside the limits of 
this work. We have seen how, in the general absorption 
of the Lombard cities by the four families Visconti, Delia 
Scala, Gonzaga, and Estensi, Pavia had preserved a con- 
siderable measure of independence. The Visconti had, 
indeed, the overlordship of the city ; but the actual rule 
was in the hands of the family of Beccheria, whom, as 
we have seen, had long been the heads of the Ghibelline 
and popular party. Under their rule Pavia enjoyed 
peace, and recovered a great part of its former prosperity. 

In 1356, at a time when the lesser despots of Lombardy 
and the Marquis of Montferrat had all leagued to put a 
stop to the ever-increasing power of the Visconti, the 
Beccheria broke off from their old allies and joined the 
confederacy against Milan. At once an army of forty- 
thousand men was sent to reduce Pavia, and blockaded 
it so as to cut off all supplies. Within the walls was 
a young Augustinian monk, Jacapo dei Bussolari by 
name, a man of great eloquence and inspired with an 
enthusiastic love for freedom. His preaching had already 
gained for him great influence, not only with the people, 
but with the heads of the Beccheria family. Now he 
turned his eloquence to encourage the Pavesans in their 
struggle against the Visconti, and so emboldened them 
that the burghers sallied out and utterly routed the 
besiegers, capturing their fleet on the Ticino and their 
fortified camp with all its stores. 

* Alba and most of the rest were taken almost immediately from 
Savoy by the Visconti. 




o 

X 



s 



CO 



>*>, 



THE LAST STRUGGLES 463 

Fra Jacopo's influence in the city now became un- 
bounded. Not only did he endeavour to bring about a 
reformation of manners, but he began to preach against 
the rule of all despots, foreign or native, and to incite the 
people to restore a popular form of government. The 
Beccheria took alarm at this, and plotted against his life. 
This was discovered, and the people furnished him with 
a guard for his person and began to reform the govern- 
ment, depriving the Beccheria of their power and 
restoring the Commune. The chief among the Beccheria 
were discovered in a plot against the new state of affairs, 
and left the city with their supporters.^ 

In the meantime the Visconti, at first unsuccessful 
against the leagued Lombard despots, had held their own. 
The army of the League had been badly beaten in the 
field, and a want of unity in their plans had still farther 
weakened the confederates. Peace was made in 1358, 
leaving things much as they were before the war, but 
apparently containing no provision to secure Pavia 
against attack. The exiled Beccheria had, as a matter of 
course, gone over to the Visconti, and put them in 
possession of their castles. A pretext was soon found for 
hostility against the city, and in March, 1359, a Milanese 
army once more appeared before it. 

To gain his aid the Marquis of Montferrat had been 
elected Signore — it is not clear whether before or after the 
expulsion of the Beccheria. At any rate, he was in full 
agreement with Fra Jacopo, recognised the institutions 
he had caused the people to set up, contenting himself 
with the name of lord and the military command and 
was zealous in the defence of the city. 

Fra Jacopo's exhortations moved the burghers to sacri- 
fices of every kind. The men gave up their plate, the 
women their jewels and costly stuffs, to provide pay for 
the army which the Marquis was sending to their assist- 
ance. The men capable of bearing arms manned the 
walls ; the rest of the population, clad in sober garments, 
endeavoured by prayer and austerities to gain the favour 
of Heaven. Montferrat's troops succeeded in relieving 
' Their palaces were destroyed to the very foundations. 



464 THE LOMBARD COMMUNES 

the city, but in September a fresh army was before the 
walls. The greater part of the Contado had been over- 
run by the Milanese or had gone over to the Beccheria. 
The city was soon closely invested. Famine and pesti- 
lence broke out ; the mercenaries raised by Montferrat 
were corrupted by offers of larger pay, and deserted to 
the Visconti. The Marquis w^as unable to pierce the 
besieging cordon or to attempt a diversion by attacking 
the Milanese territory. Still Pavia held out. The old 
days seemed to have returned when the footmen of 
Lombardy faced the German chivalry at Legnano, and 
the citizens of Crema and Brescia preferred death on the 
walls to surrender. 

At last plague and famine did their work. Fra Jacopo 
saw that farther resistance was useless. He therefore 
offered to surrender on conditions. He stipulated for 
the internal liberties of Pavia, and for a general amnesty, 
the only person for whom he made no conditions being 
himself. The Visconti promised everything, and broke 
their promises as soon as they were in possession of the 
city. Fra Jacopo ended his days in confinement in a 
monastery at Vercelli ; Pavia passed under the direct rule 
of the Visconti. Liberty had vanished from the valley of 
the Po. 



\ 



INDEX 



Achaia, Princes of, 397 

Acqui, position of, 26 ; joins Bar- 
barossa, 150 ; sides with Otho,2i8 ; 
William of Montferrat, signore of, 
368 

Adalbert, son of Berengar of Ivrea, 
51 

Adda, River, 22, 323, 324, 325 

Adelardi, see Marchesella 

Adelheid, widow of Lothair, 51 ; flies 
to Canossa, 51 ; marries Otho I., 
51 

Adige, River, 22 

Adria, under Marquises of Este, 448 

Emilia, see Emilia 

Aigoni, name of Guelf party in 
Modena, 306 ; expelled, 206 ; re- 
admitted, 307, 441 ; form league 
with Grassulfi, 441 ; detected in a 
plot and expelled, 441 

Alaric, invasion of, 33 

Alba, position of, 26 ; joins Bar- 
barossa, 150 ; at war with Genoa, 
237 ; places itseM under Charles of 
Anjou, 337 ; seized by Ghibellines, 
362 ; under King Charles of Naples, 
387 ; under House of Anjou, 397 ; 
comes under Counts of Savoy, 462 

Albenga, Towers of, 79, 192 ; revolts 
from Genoa, 291, 292 ; makes peace 
with Genoa, 313 

Albert Azzo, lord of Canossa, 53 ; 
descendants of, 53 

Alessandria, position of, 25 ; founda- 
tion of, 138 ; besieged by Bar- 
barossa, 143 ; makes peace with 
Barbarossa, 154 ; destroys Capriata, 
165 ; hostile to Asti, 218 ; sides 



with Otho, 218 ; at war with 
Genoa, 237 ; attack on, by army of 
Frederick II., 275 ; goes over to 
side of, 286 ; re-enters League, 295; 
submits to Frederick II., 298 ; 
causes of changes of side of, 300, 
312 ; under Oberto Pelavicini, 334 ; 
forces of Oberto withdrawn from, 
338 ; parties in, 339 ; Charles of 
Anjou made lord of, 339 ; one fac- 
tion expels the other seven times 
from, 342 ; seized by Ghibellines, 
362 ; vicissitudes of, 368 ; Guelfs 
give lordship to William of Mont- 
ferrat, 369 ; he recalls Ghibellines 
to, 369 ; revolt of, from Montferrat, 
372 ; Marquis William imprisoned 
in a cage in, 372 ; Matteo Visconti 
made lord of, 372 ; under Robert 
of Naples, 401, 411 ; submission of, 
to Visconti, 413 ; surrender of, to 
Guelfs, 437 ; comes under rule of 
Visconti, 461 

Altinum, 27 ; destroyed by Attila, 33 

Ancient of the People, 352 

Ancients, see Signoria 

Ancona, siege of, 132 ; second siege 
of, 141 ; Mark of, 141, 215, 234 

Anghera, county of, 160, 172 

Anjou, Charles of, receives lordship 
of Milan, 336 ; accepts crown of 
Naples from the Pope ; made lord 
of several towns in Piedmont, 337 ; 
his army traverses Lombardy, 337 ; 
effect of this, 338 ; attempts to 
become ruler of Guelf cities, 361 ; 
towns under, 387 ; House of. Counts 
of Provence, 397 ; Kings of Naples, 

397 
Ansedisio dei Guidotti, nephew of 



30 



465 



466 



INDEX 



Ezzelino, 316 ; cruelties of, 316 ; 
bad generalship of, 218 ; executed 
by Ezzelino, 219 
Antenor, founder of Padua, 22 
Antipope : Burdinus, 84 ; Anaclet, 
96 ; Victor III., 119 ; Paschal III., 
125, 134 ; set up by Louis of 
Bavaria, 448 
Aosta, position of, 26 ; rule of House 

of Savoy in, 378 
Aquileia, 25, 27 ; foundation of, 29 ; 
destruction of, by Attila, 33 ; patri- 
archs of, 53 ; war of, with Treviso, 
209 ; Raimondo della Torre, Patri- 
arch of, 364 
Arduin, Markgraf of Ivrea, 56 
Arengo, 227 

Argenta, taken by Estensi, 439 
Ariald, leader of Papal party in 
Milan, 67 ; mutilated and tortured 
to death, 68 
Aribert becomes Archbishop of 
Milan, 58 ; grant of rights over 
Lodi to, 59 ; at war with the 
Valvassors, 60 ; imprisoned by 
Emperor Conrad, 61 ; escape of, 
61 ; arms and disciplines the 
Milanese, 62 ; invents the Car- 
roccio, 62 ; abandons Milan, 63 ; 
death of, 66 
Arimanni, meaning of, 47 
Arloti, family in Mantua, 351 
Arti, name for trades guilds, 186, 
351 ; consuls of, 352 ; triumph of 
marks a Guelf victory in many 
cities, 355 ; in Bologna, 358 ; in 
Verona, 433 ; abolished by des- 
pots, 439 
Artistae, 81, 180 
Asolo, 320, 327 

Asti, position of, 26 ; Bishop of, slain, 
60 ; towers of, 79 ; burned by Bar- 
barossa, 102 ; joins the Lombard 
League, 136 ; surrenders to Bar- 
barossa, 143 ; middle classes of, in- 
different to factions, 200 ; chroni- 
cles of, 205 ; sides with Frederick 
II., 218 ; defeated by Milan, 223 ; 
citizens of, begin to lend money, 
229 ; at war with Alessandria, 
237 ; great defeat of, 243 ; lands of. 



ravaged by twenty-three cities, 
243; admits Pope Innocent IV., 297; 
abandons Frederick II., 297 ; re- 
turns to its allegiance, 298 ; changes 
of side of, 312 ; supporters of Em- 
peror expelled from, 313 ; sup- 
ports Charles of Anjou, 337 ; 
chronicler of, on factions, 342 ; 
factions in, confined to nobles, 
343 : sack of, by Montferrat, 373 ; 
Ghibellines expelled from, 390 ; 
restoration of exiles to, by Henry 
VII., 400 ; answer of Guelf s of, 
to King Robert of Naples, 400 ; 
revolt of, from Henry VII., 408 ; 
under Robert of Naples, 411 
Guelfs supreme in, 451 ; handed 
over to Montferrat, 461 ; sold to 
Visconti, 461 
Attila, invasion of, 33 
Atto, Archbishop of Milan, 69 
Averganghi, 313 

B 

Bacchiglione, 24, 427 
Baone, Cecilia of, 208 
Baradello, Castle of, 85, 148, 153 ; 

Delia Torre imprisoned in, 363 ; 

escape of one of Delia Torre from, 

370 
Barbarasi, party name in Cremona, 

346 

Barbarossa, see Frederick I. 

Bardelli, party name in Brescia, 345 

Bassano, fief of House of Romano, 
207 ; Commune of, 209 ; at vari- 
ance with Vicenza, 209 ; seized 
by revolted serfs, 251 ; captured 
by Ezzelino, 286, 320 ; avoided by 
Ezzelino, 324 ; places itself under 
Padua, 330 

Bavaria, 94 ; Henry of, 118, 147 ; 
Dukes of, 193 ; Louis of, 417 

Beccaria, see Beccheria 

Beccheria, family of, heads Ghibel- 
line popolo in Pavia, 349 ; leave 
city, 372, 374> 383, 386 ; given 
lordship of Pavia by Visconti, 413 ; 
made Imperial Vicars, 445 ; stir 
up a revolt in Pavia against King 



INDEX 



467 



John, 455 ; rule of, in Pavia, 462 ; 

join confederacy against Visconti, 

462 ; leave Pavia, 463 
Belforte, lords of, 135, 136 
Belisarius, 34 

Bellagio revolts from Como, 86, 166 
Bellinzona granted to Bishops of 

Como, 59 ; lordship of, retained 

by Rusconi, 459 
Belluno, position of, 27 ; excluded 

from Peace of Constance, 156 ; 

Bishops of, 207 ; attacked by Tre- 

viso, 209 ; taken by Treviso, 251 ; 

taken by Ezzelino, 305 ; recovers 

its freedom, 327 ; under da Camino, 

386 ; under Scaligers, 387 ; taken 
by Can Grande, 430 

Belmonte, 153, 164 

Benevento, Battle of, 338 

Benzoni, Venturino, despot of Crema, 

387 ; executed, 409 

Berengar, Markgraf of Ivrea, ob- 
tains crown of Italy, 51 ; conquered 
by Otho of Saxony, 52 

Bergamo, position of, 26 ; plundered 
by Attila, 33 ; grant to Bishop of, 
43 ; Bishop of, made ruler of the 
whole diocese, 44 ; hostile to 
Milan and Brescia, 93 ; allies of, 
94 ; defeat of, by Brescia, 106 ; 
joins the Lombard League, 130 ; 
at war with Brescia, 161 ; aided 
by eleven cities, 161 ; defeated by 
Brescia, 162 ; under an interdict 
for thirty years, 200 ; favours 
Frederick IL, 270 ; a force from, 
menaces confederate army at 
Cortenuova, 272 ; men of, fall on 
fugitives from battle, 273 ; Guelf 
nobles of, 323 ; Filippo della Torre, 
signore of, 334 ; factions in, con- 
fined to nobles, 343 ; inhabitants of, 
murder strangers on account of 
their manner of cutting garlic, 
348 ; rival families in, 349 ; torn 
by factions, 387 ; Alberto Scotto, 
signore of, 387 ; expulsion of 
Guelfs from, 413 ; King John 
made lord of, 452 ; annexation of, 
by Visconti, 455 

Bertinoro, Countess of, 141, 264 



Biandrate, Counts of, 73 ; Countess 
of, 87 ; Count of, attacks Como, 
90 ; negotiates peace for Milanese, 
108 ; aids Frederick L, 120 ; joins 
Lombard League, 139 ; castle of, 
destroyed, 139 ; fate of, 170 ; lands ' 
of Counts of, 173 ; Count of, joins 
second Lombard League, 239 

Bishops, authority of, under later 
Roman Empire, 33 ; chosen by 
popular election, 40 ; acquire great 
estates, 40 ; acquire temporal 
authority, 42 ; made temporal 
rulers of their dioceses, 44 ; rule 
of, over cities, 54 ; emancipation 
of cities from rule of, 54 ; how 
elected, 59 ; " Investiture " of, 65 ; 
appointed by kings as a reward 
for political services, 65 ; simoni- 
acal Bishops, 70 ; aid Frederick I., 
no 

Bobbio, position of, 26 ; taken by 
Piacenza, 166 ; Irish monastery at, 
226 ; annexed by Visconti, 462 

Boii, the, 28 

Bologna, the Etruscan Felsina, 22 ; 
position of, 25 ; towers of, 79, 80 ; 
hostility of, to Modena, 94 ; allies of, 
94-; joins the Lombard League, 136; 
invites settlers, 169 ; frees its serfs, 
170 ; quarrels of, with Modena, 176 ; 
prominence of butchers in, 186 ; 
illtreatment of Podestas in, 188 ; 
Anziani of, 190 ; towers of, 192 ; 
supports Guelfs, 198 ; attacks 
Modena, 210 ; sides with Otho, 
217 ; Palazzo del Podesta at, 227 ; 
great attack of, on Modena, 242 ; 
defeat of, 242 ; new attack, 243 ; 
defeat of, and capture of Carroccio 
of, 243 ; revolution in, 243 ; attack 
on, by Frederick II., 281 ; attacks 
and conquers Romagna, 306 ; 
attacks Modena, 306 ; army of, 

306 ; victory of, at Fossalta, 306 ; 
decree of Senate of, re King Enzio, 

307 ; besieges Modena, 307 ; peace 
between, and Modena, 307 ; 12,000 
persons expelled from, 347 ; atro- 
cities in, 347 ; rival families i 
348 ; popolo of Guelf, 349 ; guilds 



468 



INDEX 



gain share in government of, 352 ; 
first Captain of the People in, 353 ; 
disabiHties of lawyers in, 354 ; 
number of noble families and 
towers in, 355 ; leaning towers 
of» 355 ; feuds of nobles in, 356 ; 
quarrel of, with Pope, 356 ; feud 
of Lambertazzi and Geremei in, 
356 ; tragedy of Bonifazio and 
Imelda in, 356 ; nobles of, take 
sides in feud, 357 ; first Captain 
of the People in, 357 ; constitution 
of) 367 ; Companies of Arms in, 
357 ; nobles of, excluded from 
Companies of Arms, 358 ; ex- 
communication of, 358 ; street 
fighting in, 358 ; constant quarrels 
in, 358 ; special laws against 
nobles in, 358 ; appearance of 
Ghibelline faction in, 368 ; war 
of, with Modena, 359; attack on 
Forli, 359 ; street fighting in, 359 ; 
expulsion of Lambertazzi from, 
359 ; " Sacred Ordinances " of, 
359 ; nobles of, subject to a special 
code of laws, 360 ; diminution of 
fighting power of Commune, 360 ; 
great defeats of, 360 ; long dura- 
tion of liberty in, 361 ; change of 
attitude of, 390 ; restoration of 
Ghibellines to, 390 ; hostility of, 
to Estensi, 390; alliance of, with 
Ghibellines, 391 ; forms league 
against Estensi, 392 ; revolution 
in. 393 ; atrocities in, 392 ; Lam- 
bertazzi expelled from, 394 ; 
liberties of, threatened by Romeo 
dei Pepoli, 439; defeat of, by 
Modena, 443 ; races run round 
walls of, by victors, 444 ; gives 
itself to Papal legate, 450 ; revolt 
of, from legate, 459 ; factions in, 
460 ; Taddeo dei Pepoli proclaimed 
signore of, 461 
Bonaccolsi, Pinamonte, heads the 
people of Mantua, 351 ; a Ghibel- 
line, 351 ; becomes despot, 351 ; 
rule of House of, in Mantua, 383 • 
Botticella, despot of Mantua, 386 • 
Passerino made Imperial Vicar, 
409 ; proclaimed lord of Modena' 



410 ; attacks Cremona, 414 ; ex- 
pelled, 442 ; recovers city, 442 ; 
routs Bolognese, 443 ; expelled 
from Modena, 444 ; tyranny of, 
and conspiracy against, 446 ; death 
of, 446 ; destruction of family of, 
446 
Bonghi, 387 
Bononia, 23 

Bonvesin, Fra, of Riva, 227 
Borgo San Donnino, burned by 
Parma, 98 ; rights over, granted 
to Piacenza, 162 ; struggle for 
freedom of, 165 ; rased by Par- 
mesans, 165 ; granted to Piacenza, 
202 ; ceded to Parma, 203 
Boschetti, Guelf family of Modena, in 

exile, 392 
Bosco, Marquises of, 153, 291 
Brancaleone degli Andalo, 356 
Brenta R., 22, 24; course of, di- 
verted, 318 
Brescia, position of, 26 ; plundered 
by Attila, 33 ; territory of, granted 
to Thedald of Canossa, 53 ; allied 
with Milan against Cremona, 75; 
enemies of, 93 ; allied with Milan, 
93 ; supports Lothair, 96 ; defeats 
Bergamo, 106 ; capitulates to Bar- 
barossa, 106 ; unsuccessfully at- 
tacks Cremona, 115 ; joins the 
Lombard League, 130 ; at * war 
with Bergamo, 161 ; defeats Ber- 
gamo and its allies, 162 ; discords 
between nobles and popolo in, 
183 ; supports Guelfs, 198 ; nobles 
of, support Ghibellines, 199 ; dis- 
cord in, 203 ; Carroccio of, 
captured, 203; popolo of, side 
with Otho, 217 ; Broletto of, 227 ; 
Frederick IL invades territory of, 
270 ; attack on, by Frederick II., 

275 ; courage of men of, 276 ; siege 
of, 276 ; cruelties during siege of, 

276 ; failure of siege of, 277 ; feuds 
of nobles and people in, 321 ; 
nobles of, join Ezzelino, 321 ; sur- 
render of, to Ezzelino, 321 ; rule 
of, shared by Ezzelino, Buoso da 
Doara, and Oberto Pelavicini, 322 ; 
Ezzelino sole ruler of, 322 ; cam- 



INDEX 



469 



paign of Ezzelino in territory of, 
323 ; nobles of, abandon Ezzelino, 
325 ; Oberto Pelavicini made lord 
of, 330 ; revolt of, from Pelavicini, 
338 ; discord in, 344 ; many nobles 
of, become Guelf, 344 ; expulsion 
of Ghibellines from, 344 ; lordship 
of, given to Charles of Anjou, 345 ; 
twrenty-three years' internal peace 
in, 345 ; five factions in, 345 ; vicissi- 
tudes of, 345 ; Robert of Naples 
made lord of, 346 ; Brusati and 
Maggi head parties in, 349 ; 
party names in, 349 ; Bishop 
Maggi lord of, 387 ; revolt of, from 
Henry VII., 404 ; siege of, 405 ; 
surrender of, 405 ; result of siege 
of, 406 ; expulsion of Guelfs from. 
408 ; Ghibellines expelled from 
415 ; Guelfs of, call in King John 
of Bohemia, 451 ; he is proclaimed 
lord of, 452 ; Guelfs of, open gates 
to Scaligers, 454 ; atrocities in, 
454 ; end of freedom of, 455 

Brixia, 23 

Broletto, 227 

Brusati, 176 ; leading Guelfs of 
Brescia, 345 ; expelled, 345 ; Te- 
baldo, incites rising against Henry 
VII., 404 ; put to death, 405 

Burgaria, county of, 156, 160 

Byzantines, war of, with Goths, 34 ; 
Lombards conquer Ravenna from, 
36 ; cities held by, 47 



Caesarea, see Alessandria 

Calaon, 315 

Camerino, destruction of, 347 

Camino, Lords of, 140, 206 ; feud of, 
with House of Romano, 251 ; join 
Frederick II., 267 ; seize Treviso, 
280 ; Biachino da, helps Parma, 
303 ; leads army against Ezzelino, 
321 ; head Guelfs of Treviso, 386 ; 
Gherardo, becomes lord of Treviso, 
Feltre, and Belluno, 386 ; Dante's 
opinion of, 386 ; cities subject to, 
387 ; Rizzardo, becomes Imperial 
Vicar, 409 ; assassination of, 410 ; 



Guecelo succeeds him, 410 ; ex- 
pelled from Treviso, 410 ; Guecelo, 
430 

Camposampiero, family of, 208 ; 
feud of, with House of Romano, 
208 ; sole survivor of family of, 
286 ; William of, put to death by 
Ezzelino, 316 ; Tisone of, 317 ; 
William of, murdered, 426 

Cannobbio, 164 

Canossa, 51 ; Henry IV. at, 71 ; 
House of, 71 

Capelletti, party name in Cremona, 
349 

Capitani, see Captains 

Captain of the People, 313, 352 ; his 
duties, 352 ; his councils and 
courts, 352 ; his palace, 353 ; first 
appearance of, 353 ; in Bologna, 
357 ; of Verona, 433 

Captains, meaning of, 47 ; quarrel of, 
with Valvassors, 60 ; Captains and 
Valvassors of Lodi expelled, 75 ; 
position of, in the Communes, 81 ; 
in Frignano, 176, 178 ; of Milan, 
237, 238 

Capua, Prince of, 116 

Carcano, battle of, 120 

Carlovingians, 41, 42, 43 ; break up 
of Empire of, 50 ; nomination of 
Bishops by, 59 

Carnesino, 153 

Carpi, 460 

Carrara, Jacopo da, 286 ; family of, 
426 ; Giacomo da, becomes lord of 
Padua, 429 ; dissensions in family 
of, 431 ; Marsiho da, proclaimed 
Signore, and surrenders Padua to 
Can Grande, 431 

Carretto, Marquis of, 291, 292, 297, 

298, 313. 367 

Carroccio, institution of, 62 ; Mila- 
nese, 98, 120, 121 ; of Brescia, 183 ; 
of Milan captured, 220 ; Milanese 
at Cortenuova, 272 ; of Cremona 
named Berta, 305 ; of Parma 
named Blancardo, 308 ; of Bologna, 
360 

Casale, 20 ; vicissitudes of, 165 ; 
population of, carried off by 
Milanese, 222 ; under William of 



470 



INDEX 



Montferrat, 369 ; capture of, by 
Giovanni of Montferrat, 373 ; 
acknowledges lordship of Mont- 
ferrat, 461 

Casaloldi family in Mantiu, 351 ; ex- 
pelled, 351 

Cassano, 323 ; Ezzelino's superstition 
regarding, 324 

Castel Bolognese, 153, 164 

Castel Leone, battle of, 219 

Castelfranco, 281 

Castelli, name of Ghibellines of Asti, 
390 

Castelli, lead Ghibellines in Treviso, 
386 ; Gherardo, ruler of Treviso, 
386 

Cavalcabo, Marquis, head of Cre- 
monese Guelfs, death of, 409 ; 
Jacopo, proclaimed Signore of 
Cremona, 414 ; resigns, 414 ; slain, 
419 

Cerro, 315 

Cervia joins Guelfs, 306 

Cesena, 29 ; allied virith Bologna, 
217 ; allied with Faenza, 264 ; 
surrenders to Frederick II., 288 ; 
joins Guelfs, 306 

Ceva, Marquis of, 291, 292, 298, 367, 
398 

Charlemagne conquers Lombards, 
36 ; crowned Emperor, 36 ; de- 
scendants of, 50 

Chiavenna granted to Bishop of 
Como, 59 

Chierasco, position of, 26 ; chooses 
Charles of Anjou as lord, 337 ; 
under House of Anjou, 397 

Chieri, position of, 25 ; burned by 
Barbarossa, 102 ; under King 
Charles of Naples, 387 ; wars of, 
397 ; comes under House of Savoy, 
462 

Chivasso, 164 

Christian of Mainz, 141, 145, 147 

Cisalpine Gaul, Roman conquest of, 
28 ; condition of, under Empire, 

30 ; government of, about 400 a.d., 

31 ; city life in, 32 ; civitates of, 
40, 92 

Cittadella, 319, 320 
Cives, meaning of, 47 



Civitas, meaning of, 31 ; unit of ad- 
ministration, 40 ; coincides with 
county and with diocese, 41 

Coleoni, family of, 349, 387 

Colle, 85 

Comacchio gives itself to Estensi, 

439, 448 

Commune, meaning of, 80 ; Council 
of the, 78 ; palace of the, 227, 353 

Communes, aristocratic form of 
government in, 80 ; class struggles 
in, 83 ; larger Communes absorb 
smaller ones, 86 ; quarrels of the, 
92 ; hostilities of, with country 
nobles, 98 ; privileges of, 112 ; 
treatment of dependent communi- 
ties by, 166 ; emancipation of serfs 
by, 166 ; treatment of country 
nobles by, 169 ; conquer Contado, 
172 ; position of nobles in, 179 ; 
class quarrels in, 183, 186 ; feuds 
of the nobles in, 190 ; origins of 
Guelf and Ghibelline factions in, 
198 ; individuality of, 201 ; wars 
between, 224 ; public buildings of, 
227 ; energy of burghers of, 231 ; 
views of Frederick II. as regards, 
274 ; disastrous results of struggle 
with Frederick II. for, 309 ; 
quarrels of Guelfs ^nd Ghibellines 
in, 311 ; shif tings of grouping of, 
311 ; increase of faction in, 311 ; 
" exiles of the," 346 ; government 
of, becomes that of a faction, 346 ; 
wholesale expulsions from, 347 ; 
government of, by middle classes, 
354 ; condition of nobles in, 354 ; 
growing inefficiency of infantry of, 
398 ; smaller absorbed by greater, 
408 ; increase in power of nobles 
in, 439 ; rely on mercenaries or 
nobles for cavalry, 440 ; nobles 
now indispensable to, 440 ; diffi- 
culty of keeping nobles perma- 
nently in subjection to, 443 ; story 
of, centres round rivalry of Pavia 
and Milan, 462 

Comnenus, Manuel, 126, 127, 133 

Como, position of, 26 ; grants to 
Bishop of, 59 ; control of, over 
trade routes, 60; claims of, to 



INDEX 



471 



Bellinzona, &c., 73 ; war of, with 
Milan, 84 ; pillaged by Milanese, 
85 ; revolt of subject communities, 
86 ; attacked by fourteen cities, 
87 ; fleet of, 88 ; Bishop Guido of, 
90 ; abandoned by inhabitants, 90 ; 
conquest of, by Milan, 91 ; joins 
the Lombard League, 136 ; de- 
clares for Barbarossa, 145 ; 
attacked by the League, 146 ; 
made feudal superior of the Valtel- 
line ; 172 ; parties in, 200 ; poem 
on war of, with Milan, 204 ; Bro- 
letto of, 227 ; cloth of, 228 ; goes 
over to Frederick IL, 274 ; hostili- 
ties of, with Milan, 293 ; forced to 
re-enter League, 307 ; dissensions 
between nobles and people in, 
333 ; under the Vitani, 333 ; under 
Pelavicini, 334 ; Filippo della Torre 
signore of, 334 ; violence of faction 
in, 342 ; rivalry of Rusconi and 
Vitani in, 349 ; comes under Rus- 
coni, 362 ; goes over to side of 
Della Torre, 370 ; war of, with 
Milan, 370 ; rule of Matteo Vis- 
conti in, 372 ; Rusconi of, attack 
Visconti, 389 ; expulsion of Rus- 
coni from, 390 ; expulsion of Vitani 
from, 413 ; under Ravizza Rusca, 
451 ; handed over to Visconti, 459 
Companies of Arms in Bologna, 357, 

360 
Comum, 23 

Comune Civitatis, meaning of, 73, 80 
Concordia, 27 ; destruction of, by 

Attila, 33 
Conrad the Salic succeeds Henry IL, 
58 ; crowned at Milan, 58 ; attacks 
Pavia, 59 ; grants of, to Aribert, 59 ; 
quarrels with Aribert, 61 ; is recon- 
ciled with Pavia, 61 ; makes all 
fiefs hereditary, 62 ; death of, 62 
Conrad IIL, assumes royal title, 92 ; 
received by Milanese, 95 ; crowned 
at Monza, 95 ; opposed by Pavia, 
Cremona, and other cities, 96 ; 
submits to Lothair, 97 ; succeeds 
Lothair, 97 ; crusade of, 97 ; death 

of, 97, 193 
Conrad IV., son and successor of 



Frederick IL, 309, 313 ; death of, 
336 

Consorterie, 79, 80, 180 

Consortes, towers built by, 79 

Constance, Diet of, 100 ; peace of, 
155 ; burghers of, receive Frede- 
rick II., 219 ; treaty of, 402 

Constantine rearranges provinces, 31 

Constantinople, Emperors at, 19 ; in- 
signia of Empire sent to, 34 ; cities 
subject to Emperors of, 44 

Consuls, first mention of, 78 ; func- 
tions of, 78 ; class representation 
among, 81 ; how chosen in Milan, 
81, 180 : replaced by Podesta, 186 

Contado, meaning of, 43 ; conquest 
of, by Communes, 172 ; held by 
exiles from the cities, 343 

Correggeschi, see. Da Correggio 

Cortenuova, battle of, 272 

Councils, 78 ; of the Captain of the 
People, 352 ; of the Commune, 
353 ; of Bologna, 357 ; in Verona, 

433 

Counts set up by Frankish monarchs, 
40 ; turn Crown domains into 
private possessions, 41 ; superseded 
in the cities by the Bishops, 42 ; 
authority of, limited to the country 
districts, 43 ; allodial proprietors ac- 
quire rights of, 54 ; of Vicenza, 208 

Credenza, 78 ; of Lodi, 100 ; becomes 
Council of Podesta, 189 ; of Sant' 
Ambrogio, 183, 238 

Crema, position of, 24 ; grant of, to 
Cremona by Countess Matilda, 75 ; 
alliance of, with Milan, 75 ; cap- 
ture of, by Cremona, 76 ; puts itself 
under protection of Milan, 97 ; be- 
sieged by Barbarossa, 1 16 ; capitu- 
lates to Barbarossa, 118 ; given to 
the Cremonese, 118 ; restored by 
Milanese, 160; again granted to 
Cremona, 162-163 ; put to the ban 
of the Empire, 163 ; resists Cre- 
mona, 163 ; sides with Emperor 
Otho, 217 ; under Oberto Pela- 
vicini, 323 ; crucifix in, inclines its 
head to " the Guelf side," 348 ; 
taken by Buoso da Doara, 366 ; 
comes under William of Mont- 



472 



INDEX 



ferrat, 369 ; under Venturino Ben- 
zoni, 387 ; revolt of, from Henry 
VII., 403 ; goes over to Guelfs, 
415 ; King John made lord of, 
452 ; surrender of, to Visconti, 459 
Cremona, position of, 24 ; captured 
by Lombards, 35 ; hostility be- 
tween Milan and, 59 ; opposes 
Henry IV., 72 ; attacks Crema, 74 ; 
attacks Tortona, 75 ; enemies of, 
93 ; claims dominion over Crema, 
93 ; allies of, 94 ; supports Lothair, 
96 ; quarrels with him, 97 ; wars 
of, 97 ; army of, captured by 
Milanese, 97 ; beats Milan, 98 ; 
Crema given to, by Barbarossa, 
118 ; joins the Lombard League, 
130 ; renounces the League, 150 ; 
attacked by Barbarossa, 160 ; de- 
feats Brescia, 184 ; discord in, 
184 ; supports Ghibellines, 198 ; 
parties in, 200 ; growing power of, 
203 ; wars of, 203 ; annals of, 204 ; 
sides with Frederick II., 217 ; 
chief opponent of Milan, 219 ; 
great victory of, 220 ; cathedral of, 
227 ; projected Diet at, 239 ; 
Frederick II. sends Eastern 
animals to, 259 ; Frederick II. 
fixes his headquarters at, 265 ; 
triumphal entry of Frederick II. 
into, 273 ; Carroccio of, enters 
lands of Milan, 282 ; takes part in 
siege of Parma, 302 ; Carroccio of, 
captured, 305 ; defeats Parma and 
takes Carroccio, 308 ; under Oberto 
Pelavicini and Buoso da Doara, 
314 ; alliance of, with Ezzelino, 
321 ; joins League against him, 
322 ; heads Ghibellines of Lom- 
bardy, 336 ; expulsion of Oberto 
Pelavicini from, 339 ; expulsion of 
Buoso and 10,000 Ghibellines from, 
339 ; on side of Guelfs, 340 ; party 
government in, 346 ; party names 
in, 349 ; triumph of Guelfs in 
triumph of popolo, 349; Charles 
of Anjou made Signore of, 361 ; 
champion of the Guelfs, 365 ; 
attack on, by Ghibelline lords, 
394 : decline of, 394 ; ruinous con- 



dition of, 398 ; revolt of, from 
Henry VII., 403 ; harsh treatment 
of, 404 ; taken by exiles, 409 ; 
vicissitudes of, 414 ; factions in, 
416 ; surrender of, to Milan, 419 ; 
King John made lord of, 452 ; sale 
of, to Ponzino Ponzone, 457 ; 
lamentable condition of, 458 ; sur- 
render of, to Visconti, 458 

Cuneo, founded by Milanese, 244 ; 
chooses Charles of Anjou as lord, 
337 ; under King Charles of Naples, 
387 ; under House of Anjou, 397 

Curia, 31 

D 

Da Canossa, family of Reggio, 440, 
441 

Da Correggio, family of, join 
Guelfs, 301 ; Ghiberto, 391 ; be- 
trays Alberto Scotto, 391 ; made 
Signore of Parma, 392 ; declares 
for the Ghibellines, 392 ; attacks 
Marquis of Este, 392 ; made Im- 
perial Vicar by Henry VII., 406 ; 
causes Parma and Reggio to revolt 
from him, 408 ; treachery of, 414 ; 
proclaims himself lord of Cremona, 
414 ; downfall of, 414 ; sons of, 

435 

Da Polenta, Bernardino, lord of 
Ravenna, occupies Ferrara, 395, 
456 

Dalesmannini, put to death by 
Ezzelino, 316 

Dante : Reference of, to Ravenna, 27 ; 
to the good old times, 83, 167 ; to 
the Veronese Mark, 206 ; to Car- 
dinal degli Ubaldini, 306 ; to 
Cunizza da Romano, 329 ; to Buoso 
da Doara, 339 ; to Bishop of Feltre, 
347 ; to William of Montferrat, 372; 
to Gherardo da Camino, 386 ; to 
distracted state of Italy, 398 ; to his 
reception at Verona, 421 ; to Can 
Grande della Scala, 423 ; sojourn of, 
at court of Can Grande, 423 

De Andito, see Landi 

Della Scala, Origin of, family, 168 ; 
Mastino chosen as Podesta del 
Popolo in Verona, 385 ; assassina- 



INDEX 



473 



tion of, 385 ; his brother Alberto, 
385 ; rule of House of, in Verona, 
385 ; Alberto rules Verona, 386 ; 
care of, for his subjects, 388 ; Cane, 
will not restore exiles, 402 ; seizes 
Vicenza, 409 ; Cane and Alboino 
made Imperial Vicars, 409 ; Cane 
makes war on Padua, 410 ; rule of 
family of, in Verona, 420 ; death of 
Alberto, 421 ; his eldest son Bar- 
tolommeo, 421 ; Dante and, 421 ; 
Alboino, 421 ; Francesco, a/z'as Can 
Grande, 421 ; character of, 422 ; 
patronises art and letters, 422 ; 
court of, 422 ; Dante and, 423 ; 
Alboino dies, 425 ; Cane makes 
war on Padua, 425 ; becomes 
master of Vicenza, 425 ; routs 
Paduans, 428 ; made Captain- 
General of Ghibelline league, 430 ; 
besieges Padua, 430 ; routed, 430 ; 
captures Feltre and Belluno, 430 ; 
Treviso surrenders to, 431 ; power 
of, 431 ; death of, 432 ; monument 
of, 432 ; Alberto and Mastino, sons 
of Alboino, succeed, 432 ; intrigue 
of Cane against Visconte, 445 ; 
Cane joins plot against Bonaccolsi, 
446 ; Mastino allies himself with 
Brescian Guelfs, 454 ; becomes 
master of the city, 454 ; his treat- 
ment of the Ghibellines, 454 ; his 
brother Alberto's indignation, 455 ; 
Parma and Lucca surrender to, 
458 ; forces Reggio to surrender, 

459 
Delia Torre, Pagano, helps fugitives 
from Cortenuova, 273 ; Martino, 
323 ; Pagano, 332 ; Martino, leader 
of popular party in Milan, 333 ; 
chosen "Ancient of the People," 
333 ; Filippo, rules Milan, Lodi, 
Como, Bergamo, and Vercelli, 334; 
Napoleone, head of the family, 338 ; 
makes peace with Pope, 340 ; rule 
of family of, in Milan, 342 ; family 
of, head people against nobles, 348 ; 
Napoleone made Imperial Vicar, 
362 ; defeated and captured, 363 ; 
Cassone, flies from Milan, 363 ; 
captured members of family im- 



prisoned in cages, 363 ; Raimondo, 
Patriarch of Aquileia, 364 ; Cassone, 
slain, 366 ; release of surviving 
members of family of, 370 ; retire 
from Lombardy, 373 ; rule of, in 
Milan, 383 ; recalled from Friuli, 
389 ; re-enter Milan, 389 ; Guido, 
made lord of Milan, 396 ; and of 
Piacenza, 396 ; tries to organise 
resistance to Henry VII., 399 ; 
forced to subm.it to him, 400 ; 
quarrel of, with Henry VII., 402 ; 
expelled from Milan, 403 ; Pagano, 
Patriarch of Aquileia, 437 

Delle Vigne, Pietro, 272, 280 

Dertona, 23 

Desio, battle of, 363 

Diocletian, rearranged provinces, 31 

Doara, Anselmoda, 171 ; Buoso da, 
302, 314 ; ruler of Cremona, 320 ; 
quarrels with Ezzelino, 322 ; Po- 
desta of the Mercadanza in Cre- 
mona, 334 ; prepares to resist 
Charles of Anjou, 337 ; treachery 
of, 338 ; expels Oberto Pelavicini 
from Cremona, 339 ; expelled from 
Cremona, 339 ; Dante's reference 
to, 339 ; reappearance of, 366 ; his 
rule in Cremona, 382 

Doccia, 153 

Domaso, see Trepievi 

Dominicans, 255 

Dongo, see Trepievi 

Dora Baltea, River, 22, 26 

Dora Riparia, River 

Dukes, set up by Lombards in the 
cities, 40 



Emilia, situation of, 20 ; province 

of, 31 
Emilian cities, 92 ; alliances of, 94 ; 

internal tranquillity of, 201 ; annals 

of, 204 ; active supporters of 

Frederick 11., 300 ; freedom from 

dissensions of, 300 
England, wool of, 228 ; Isabella of, 

260 ; Henry III. of, sends knights to 

aid Frederick II., 275 
Enzio, son of Frederick II., 279, 298, 

301, 302 ; takes command of army 



474 



INDEX 



of Modena, 306 ; defeated and cap- 
tured, 307 ; death of, 307 

Este, position of, 25 ; castle of, taken 
by Padua, 220 ; taken by Ezzelino, 
but recovered, 278 ; captured by 
Ezzelino, 305 ; recovered by Mar- 
quis, 319; taken by Padua, 374; 
taken by Can Grande, 429 

Este, Marquises of, 54 ; forced to 
become burghers of Padua, 173 ; 
possessions of, 206 ; preserve their 
independence, 206 ; quarrel of Azzo 
of, with Ezzelino, 210 ; take part in 
feuds in Ferrara, 211 ; Obizzo of, 
betrothed to Marchesella, 211 ; 
Azzo of, heads a faction in Ferrara, 
212 ; allies of, 212 ; expels the 
Montecchi from Verona, 213 ; takes 
Ferrara, 213 ; forms a league with 
Cremona and Modena, 213 ; expels 
Ezzelino from Vicenza and attacks 
Bassano, 214 ; loses Ferrara, 214 ; 
made Marquis of Ancona, 215 ; 
disobeys Emperor Otho, 216 ; 
champion of the Papal cause, 217 ; 
defeat of, 220 ; death, 220 ; Aldo- 
brandino of, forced to submit to 
Padua, 220 ; Azzo VII. expels 
Salinguerra from Ferrara, 246 ; 
attacks Salinguerra, 246 ; made 
Podesta of Vicenza,26i ; hostility of, 
to Emperor, 261 ; made general of 
Padua, 267; submits to Emperor, 
267 ; attempts to seize Padua, 277 ; 
attacks Ferrara, 284 ; becomes 
master of that city, 285 ; commands 
forces of Mark, 328 ; Marquis of, 
becomes lord of Reggio and 
Modena, 344 ; quarrel of, with 
Padua, 373 ; alliance of with Vis- 
conti, 373 ; Azzo VIII, of, at war 
with Guelf Communes, 374 ; alli- 
ance of, with Ghibellines of Ro- 
magna, 374 ; cedes territories north 
of Adige to Padua, 374 ; nature of 
rule of, 378 ; attack on, by neigh- 
bours, 392 ; Ferrara loyal to, 393 ; 
Azzo VIII. of, dies, 394 ; his will, 
394 ; dissensions in House of, 394 ; 
Francesco and Aldrobrandino of, 
lose Ferrara, 396 ; keep Rovigo, 



396 ; murder of Francesco of, 396 ; 
Rinaldo and Obizzo of, recover 
Ferrara, 415 ; are excommunicated 
and join Ghibellines, 415 ; increas- 
ing power of, 439 ; make peace 
with Pope, 448 

Etruscans, League of twelve Etrus- ^ 
can cities, 23 ; Felsina and Mantua 
cities of, 22 

Euganean Hills, see Monti Euganei 

Evil Field, battle of, 60 

Exercitus, meaning of, 45 

Ezzelino of Romano "the Stam- 
merer," 171 ; power of, 207 ; 
general of Lombard League, 207 

Ezzelino " the Monk " marries 
Cecilia of Baone, 208 ; feuds of, 
209 ; quarrels with Marquis of 
Este, 210 ; quarrels with Count of 
San Bonifazio, 210 ; alliance of, with 
Salinguerra, 212 ; expelled from 
Vicenza, 214 ; retires to a mon- 
astery, 246 ; attitude of, towards 
Frederick II., 247 ; saves the life of 
Count of San Bonifazio, 253 ; sus- 
pected of heresy, 253 ; children of, 

329 
EzzeHno III., first exploit of, 245 ; 
heads Montecchi and seizes Verona, 
247 ; attitude of, towards popular 
party, 248 ; change of side of, 249 ; 
attacks Camposampieri, 251 ; im- 
prisons Count of San Bonifazio, 

253 ; negotiates with Frederick II., 

254 ; excommunicated, 255 ; defi- 
nitely becomes master of Verona, 
262 ; made ruler of Vicenza, 266 ; 
Padua and Treviso surrender to, 
268 ; enemies of, in the Mark, 277 ; 
change in character of, 286 ; cruel- 
ties of, 286 ; increasing severity of, 
294; growing power of, 315; 
tyranny of, 315 ; attempts to assas- 
sinate, 317 ; crusade against, 317 ; 
loses Padua, 318 ; vengeance of, on 
the Paduans, 320 ; reconciled with 
Alberic, 320 ; captures Brescia, 321; 
quarrels with Buoso da Doaro and 
Oberto Pelavicini, 322 ; league 
against, 322 ; plans to get posses- 
sion of Milan, 322 ; marches on the 



INDEX 



475 



city, 323 ; his design frustrated, 
324 ; beaten and wounded at 
Cassano, 324 ; capture and death 
of, 325 ; character of, 325 ; Leo's 
theory as to, 326 ; rejoicings at 
death of, 327 ; rule of, in Verona 
rests on popular support, 381 ; 
nature of his rule in the Mark, 381 



Faenza, joins Lombard League, 136 ; 
goes over to Christian of Mainz, 
145 ; discord in, 183 ; member of 
second Lombard League, 264 ; be- 
comes predominant in Romagna, 
264 ; subdues Forli, Forlimpopoli, 
and Bertinoro, 265 ; leading city of 
Romagna, 287 ; siege of, by 
Frederick IL, 287 ; surrender of, 
288 ; besieged by Bolognese and 
forced to surrender, 306 ; rejoins 
Frederick IL, 308 ; rivalry of 
Acarisi and Manfredi in, 348 ; 
Lambertazzi retire to, 359 ; victory 
of, over Bologna, 360 

Felsina, see Bologna 

Feltre, excluded from Peace of 
Constance, 156 ; Bishops of, 207 ; 
attacked byTreviso, 251 ; captured 
by Ezzelino, 305 ; recovers its 
freedom, 327 ; Bishop of, betrays 
Ghibellines of Ferrara, 347 ; 
under Gherardo da Camino, 386 ; 
under Scaligers, 387 ; taken by 
Can Grande, 430 

Ferioli, party name in Brescia, 345 

Ferrara, position of, 25 ; foundation 
of, 25 ; a fief of the Archbishops of 
Ravenna, 53 ; joins the Lombard 
League, 132 ; factions, in, 193 ; 
partisans of the Estensi in, 198 ; 
popular party in, supports Ghibel- 
lines, 200 ; at war with Ravenna, 
202 ; factions in, 210 ; vicissitudes 
of, 211 ; desiruction of towers and 
houses in, 212 ; seized by Azzo of 
Este, 213 ; seized by Salinguerra, 
214 ; rule in, shared by Salinguerra 
and Aldobrandino of Este, 220 ; 
peace broken in, 246 ; joins 
Frederick II., 267 ; prosperity of, 



under Salinguerra, 283 ; traffic of, 
284 ; fleet of, defeats Venetians, 
284 ; attack on, by Lombards, 284 ; 
surrender of, 285 ; ceases to exist 
as a free Commune, 285 ; earliest 
example of a Commune resigning 
its liberty, 380 ; rule of Salinguerra 
and Estensi in, 380 ; Salinguerra's 
rule in, rests on lower orders, 381 ; 
rule of Azzo VII. of Este in, 381 ; 
Obizzo of Este elected lord, 382 ; 
lordship of, left to grandson of 
Azzo VIII. of Este, 394; general 
attack on, 395 ; seizure of, by lord 
of Ravenna, 395 ; by the Venetians, 
395 ; hy the Papal army, 396 ; 
handed over to King Robert of 
Naples, 396 ; oppression of, 415 ; 
revolt in, 415 ; Estensi recalled to, 
415 ; Estensi made vicars of by 
Pope, 448 ; siege of, by Cardinal de 
Poiet, 456 ; defeat of Cardinal at, 

456 

Ferretto of Vicenza, 206, 429 

Fieschi, family of, 294 ; Sinibaldo 
dei, chosen Pope, 294, 303 

Fisiraga, party of, in Lodi, 348 ; 
Antonio, rules Lodi, 387 ; submits 
to Henry VII., 400 ; seizes Lodi, 
409 ; capture of, 409 ; imprisoned 
till his death, 409 

Florence, contado of, 49 ; warfare 
of, with nobles, 49 ; frees its serfs, 
170 : franchise in, 185 ; number of 
full burghers in, 185 ; chief guilds 
in, 186 ; governing body in, 189 ; 
Priors of the Arts in, 190 ; feuds in, 
191 ; remains of towers in, 192 ; 
leading GhibelHnes of, 198 ; tro- 
phies from, in Cathedral of Siena, 
225 ; dissensions in, 299 ; goes 
over to Ghibellines, 299 ; exiles 
from, 347 ; " Ordinances of Jus- 
tice " in, 355 ; hostile to Henry VII., 
405 ; nobles permanently kept 
under in, 441 

Fodero, iio, 155 

Fodrum, see Fodero 

Fogliani, family of, joins Guelfs, 
301, 337 ; leading Guelfs of Reg- 
gio, 348, 440 ; origin of feud of, 



476 



INDEX 



with Sessi, 441 ; join Ghibellines, 
449 ; Reggio sold to, 457 ; sur- 
render city, 459 

Fontana, Guelf family of Piacenza, 
460 

Forli, joins Lombard League, 136 ; 
on side of Barbarossa, 145 ; on side 
of Barbarossa at truce of Venice, 
153 ; salary of Podesta in, 188 ; 
supports Frederick IL, 264 ; 
forced to submit to Faenza, 265 ; 
designs of Bologna on, 359 ; great 
victory of, over Bologna, 360 

Forlimpopoli, sides with Frede- 
rick IL, 264 ; forced to submit to 
Faenza, 265 ; joins Guelfs, 306 

Fossalta, battle of, 306 

Franciscans act as peacemakers, 255, 

343 

Franconian Emperors, 65, 92, 99, 193 

Franks, the, conquer the Lombards, 
36 ; oblige all freemen to serve in 
war, 46 

Fratta, capture of, 231 ; massacre at, 
246 

Frederick of Austria, competitor for 
Empire, 417 ; made lord of Tre- 
viso, 430 ; and of Padua, 430 

Frederick of Hohenstaufen, Duke of 
Swabia, 91 ; makes war on Lothair 
of Saxony, 92, 193 

Frederick L, Barbarossa, 92 ; chosen 
Emperor, 99 ; enters Italy, loi ; 
burns Asti and Chieri, 102 ; be- 
sieges Tortona, 103 ; crowned at 
Pavia, 104 ; crowned at Rome, 
105 ; leaves Italy, 104 ; re-enters 
Italy, 106 ; rebuilds Lodi, 106 ; be- 
sieges Milan, 107 ; Milan submits 
to, 109 ; holds a Diet at Ron- 
caglia, III ; plans for government 
of Italy, III ; new quarrel with 
Milan, 114 ; besieges Crema, 116 ; 
clemency of, 117 ; sets up an Anti- 
pope, 119 ; excommunicated, 119 ; 
Milan surrenders to, 122 ; returns 
to Germany, 124 ; revisits Italy, 
125 ; enemies of, 126 ; detained in 
Germany, 128 ; re-enters Italy with 
a great army, 129 ; attacks Ancona, 
133 ; takes Rome, 134 ; his army 



destroyed by pestilence, 134 ; flies 
from Lombardy, 136 ; returns to 
Italy, 142 ; besieges Alessandria, 
143 ; negotiates with Lombards, 
145 ; defeat of, at Legnano, 148 ; 
makes peace with Pope, 149 ; 
meeting of, with Pope at Venice, 
152 ; partisans of, 153 ; makes 
peace with Lombards, 155 ; re- 
visits Lombardy, 158 ; death of, 
158 ; grants of, to Milanese, 160 
Frederick II., attacked by Otho, 
216 ; set up as Emperor, 216 ; par- 
tisans of, 217 ; passage of, across 
Lombardy, 218 ; re-enters Italy, 
232 ; coronation of, 233 ; character 
of, 234 ; religion of, 236 ; turns 
back from Crusade, 241 ; excom- 
munication of, 241 ; lands in Pales- 
tine, 242 ; is reconciled with Pope, 
244 ; marriage of, 260 ; invades 
Lombardy, 263 ; allies of, 264 ; 
army of, 270 ; tactics of, 271 ; 
defeats Milanese at Cortenuova, 
272 ; lays siege to Brescia, 276 ; 
failure of, at Brescia, 277 ; excom- 
municated, 278 ; besieges Faenza, 
287 ; clemency of, 288 ; marches 
on Rome, 289 ; retires owing to 
death of Pope, 290 ; besieges Vi- 
terbo, 295 ; negotiates with Inno- 
cent IV., 296 ; deposed by Council 
of Lyons, 298 ; position of his party 
in Italy, 299 ; lays siege to Parma, 
302 ; builds Vittoria, 304 ; his army 
routed at Parma, 305 ; death of, 
308 ; concessions of, to German 
feudatories, 309 ; Imperial autho- 
rity in Italy ends with death of, 

309 
Frignano, 176 ; revolt of, from 

Modena, 177 ; Captains of, and 

Modena, 178 
Friuli, Markgravate of, 52 ; grant of, 

to Patriarchs of Aquileia, 53 



Galvanus Flamma, 180 

Gauls, the, 23 

Genoa, resists the Lombard League, 



INDEX 



477 



140 ; feuds in, 191 ; height of 
towers in, Hmited, 192 ; assists 
Frederick II., 216 ; at war with 
Alessandria and four other cities, 
237 ; declares against Frederick II., 
280 ; engages to carry bishops to 
Council at Rome, 288 ; great defeat 
of, by Pisans, 289; attack on, by 
Frederick II., 291 ; courage of 
people of, 291 ; their letter to the 
Pope, 291 ; their fleet, 292 ; attack 
on harbour of, 292 ; silver arrows 
shot into harbour of, 292 ; fleet of, 
helps Pope to escape from Italy, 
296 ; party names in, 349 ; siege of, 
by Ghibellines, 417 ; blockade of 
port of, 418 
Geremei, leading Guelfs of Bologna, 
348 ; Bonifazio dei, 357 ; partisans 
of the Pope, 358 ; wish to attack 
Forli, 359 ; expel Ghibellines, 359 
Ghibellines, supposed origin of 
name, 96 ; Italianised form of 
Waiblingen, 193 ; when brought 
into Italy, 195 ; principles of, 196 ; 
leading Florentine partisans of, 
198 ; party of the nobles in Milan 
and Brescia, 199 ; party of the 
popolo in Pavia, Piacenza, &c., 
200 ; aUied with Pope, 218 ; sup- 
porters of House of Hohenstaufen, 
314 ; union of, with Guelfs against 
Ezzelino, 322 ; Milanese allied with 
Pope, 335 ; masters of Tuscany, 
337 ; cities of, in Lombardy, 338 ; 
sole partisans of, in Lombardy, 
340 ; distinctive marks of, 348 ; 
local names for, 349 ; feudal lords 
partisans of, 350 ; head of, in Lom- 
bardy, 364 ; make William of 
Montferrat their war-captain, 369 ; 
accusations of, against Henry VII., 
402 ; become party of despots, 408 ; 
ability of leaders of, 41 1 ; party of, 
predominant in Lombardy, 415 ; 
measures of King Robert and the 
Pope against, 418 ; successes of, 
418 ; urge Louis of Bavaria to visit 
Italy, 445 ; disapprove of his pro- 
ceedings, 448 ; alliance of leaders 
of, against John of Bohemia, 453 ; 



they draw up a plan of partition of 
the free cities, 454 
Ghiberto da Gente, 314 ; expelled 
from Parma, 337 ; rule of, in 
Parma, 337 ; Captain of the People 
and Podesta of the Merchants, 353 ; 
his rule in Parma and Reggio, 382 
Giglio, battle near, 289 
Giotto, 423 

Giovanni, Fra, of Schio, 256 ; pacifies 
the Mark, 257 ; downfall of, 258 ; 
reappears, 319 
Godfrey made Archbishop of Milan 
by Emperor, 68 ; besieged in Cas- 
tiglione, 69 
Gonzaga, Ludovico, 351 ; family of, 
conspire against Bonaccolsi, 446 ; 
Luigi becomes lord of Mantua, 
447 ; his descendants rule Mantua, 
447 ; obtains Reggio, 459 
Grassoni, family of, 441 
Grasulfi, name of Ghibellines of 
Modena, 344, 441 ; form league 
with Aigoni, 441 
Gravedona, see Trepievi 
Gregory VII, (Hildebrand) becomes 
Pope, 66 ; decrees of, on marriage 
of clergy and Investitures, 70 ; 
triumph of his policy, 71 
Griffi, party name in Brescia, 345 
Grossulan, Archbishop of Milan, 76 
Guastalla attacks Como, 87, 212 ; loss 

of, by Cremona, 394 
Guelf, House of, 54, 147 ; Italian 
form of Welf, 194 ; introduction of 
name into Italy, 194 ; denotes a 
supporter of the Church, 196 
Guelfs, principles upheld by, 197 ; 
gather at Parma, 303 ; in oppo- 
sition to Pope, 322, 335 ; Milanese 
allied to Lombard Ghibellines, 
335 ; league of, supreme in Lom- 
bardy, 340 ; moderates among, 
expelled from Modena, 344 ; dis- 
tinctive marks of, 348 ; local names 
for, 349 ; supported by popolo, 
349, 355 ; union of, destroyed, 373 ; 
supreme in Central Lombardy, 
389 ; leaders of, will not oppose 
Henry VII., 399 ; accusations of, 
against Henry VII., 402 ; party of 



478 



INDEX 



liberty aft^ death of Henry VII., 
408 ; cities on side of, 411 ; cause 
of, revived by action of Pope, 416 ; 
to be put down by Pope and King 
John of Bohemia, 453 ; league of, 
with Ghibelline lords against John, 
453 
Guido, appointed Archbishop of 
Milan by Emperor, 66 ; opposition 
to, 67 ; defeats Pavia, 68 ; driven 
from Milan, 68 ; resigns his see, 
68 ; imprisonment and death of, 
69 

H 

Hasta, 23 

Henry II., chosen German king, 
55 ; invades Lombardy, 55 ; his 
soldiers destroy Pavia, 56 ; death 
of, 58 

Henry III., promises help to Lan- 
zone, 64 

Henry IV. quarrels with the Pope, 
70 ; humiliation of, at Canossa, 71 ; 
opposed by Milan and three other 
cities, 72 ; death of, 72 

Henry V., attitude of Lombards 
towards, 72 ; burns Novara, 76 ; 
sets up an Antipope, 84 ; recon- 
ciliation of, with Church, 91 ; death 
of, 91 

Henry VI., 157, 162 ; conquers 
Norman dominions, 162 ; death of, 
163 ; civil war on death of, 194 

Henry VIII., Count of Luxemburg, 
chosen Emperor, 399 ; sends envoys 
to Italy, 399 ; crosses the Alps, 

399 ; his army, 399 ; restores exiles, 

400 ; sets up Imperial Vicars, 400 ; 
obtains possession of Milan, 401 ; 
forces despots to resign, 401 ; failure 
of his efforts to be impartial, 402 ; 
revolts against, 403 ; besieges Bres- 
cia, 404 ; failure of his designs, 405 ; 
leaves Lombardy, 406 ; death of, 
406 ; net results of his enterprise, 
407 

Henry the Lion, 118 ; revolt of, 147 

Henry the Proud, 193 

Herlembald, leader of Papal party 

in Milan, 68 ; master of Milan, 68 ; 

defeated and slain, 69 



Hildebrand, see Gregory VII. 

Hohenstaufen, Frederick of, 91 ; 
Philip of, 97 ; Conrad of, 97 ; 
House of, 193 ; Phihp of, 194 ; 
quarrel of House of, with Welfs, 
195 ; quarrel of, with Papacy, 196 ; 
enemies of, 217 ; supporters of, 
314 ; warfare of Popes against, 
336 

Honorius the Emperor transfers his 
residence from Milan to Ravenna, 
30 

Hungarians ravage Italy, 46 ; mas- 
sacre inhabitants of Pavia, 57 

I 

Imola position of, 27 ; joins Lom- 
bard League, 136 ; excluded from 
Peace of Constance, 156 ; gates of, 
carried off by Bologna, 224 ; ally 
of Faenza, 264 ; joins Guelfs, 306 

Insubrian Gauls, 24, 29 

Intra, 164 

Isola Comacina resists Lombards, 
35 ; position of, 86 ; attacks Como, 
87 ; fleet of, 87 ; sacked by Como, 
88, 89 ; finally destroyed by Como, 
140 

Isonzo, R., 22 

Ivrea, position of, 26 ; markgrafs 
of, 41 ; Berengar of, 50 ; founds 
Castelfranco, 169 ; on side of 
Frederick II., 313 ; William of 
Montf errat, lord of, 368 ; surrender 
of, to Montferrat, 461 

J 

Jacopo dei Bussolari, Fra, encourages 
Pavia to resist Visconti, 462 ; his 
influence, 463 ; makes terms for 
the city, 464 ; fate of, 464 

John, King of Bohemia, called to help 
of Brescia, 451 ; character of, 452 ; 
made lord of Brescia, 452 ; startling 
success of, 452 ; interview with 
Cardinal de Poiet, 453 ; supposed 
designs of, 453 ; league of Ghi- 
bellines and Guelfs against, 453 ; 
displeases the Lombards, 453 ; 
leaves Italy, 453 ; his son Charles 



INDEX 



479 



455 ; four cities loyal to him, 455 ; 
returns to Italy, 456 ; wearies of 
his enterprise, 457 ; sells the cities, 
457 ; death of, at Crecy, 457 
Jordan, Archbishop of Milan, 76 
Julian, reforms constitution of Verona, 
252 



Lambertazzi, 348 ; leading Ghibel- 
lines of Bologna, 348 ; Imelda dei, 

357 ; feud of, with Geremei, 356, 

358 ; wish to attack Modena, 359 ; 
attack Geremei, 359 ; expelled, 359 ; 
victory of, 374 ; recover influence 
in city, 393 ; final expulsion of, 

394 

Lancia, Marquis, 275, 302, 314 ; 
Podesta of Milan, 332, 367 

Landi, noble family of Piacenza, 308 ; 
head of Ghibellines in Piacenza, 
349, 411 ; restored, 412 ; Verzusio 
head of family, 435 ; expels Visconti 
from Piacenza, 435 ; is himself ex- 
pelled, 436 ; leads Guelf army, 444 

Landulph, leader of Papal party in 
Milan, 67 ; killed in Piacenza, 68 

Landulph the Younger, 96, 204 

Langusco, Count of, heads Guelf 
nobles of Pavia, 349 ; seizes city, 
371 ; ruler of Pavia, 373, 383, 386 ; 
Count Filippone of, 389 ; expels 
Ghibellines, 408 ; captured and 
imprisoned, 412 ; Ricciai'do, his son 
and successor, slain, 413 

Lanzavecchia, leaders of Ghibellines 
in Alessandria, 368, 369, 413 

Lanzone, leader of popular party in 
Milan, 63 ; appeals to German king 
for help, 64 ; pacifies Milan, 64 

Laus Pompeia, ancient name of Lodi, 
24 

Lecco, county of, 73 ; fleet of, attacks 
Como, 89 ; grant of, to Milan, 160 ; 
revolt of, from Milan, 281 

Legnano, battle of, 148 

Leo, quotation from, 55 ; views of, as 
to attitude of House of Romano 
towards factions, 247 ; views of, as 
to character of Ezzelino, 326 

Liguria, feudal lords of, 25 ; province 



of, 31 ; war on coast of, 292 ; war 
in, 292 ; character of inhabitants of, 
294 
Lodi, position of, 24 ; grant to Bishop 
of) 43 ; grant of rights over, to 
Archbishop of Milan, 59 ; war of, 
with Milan, 59 ; league of, with 
Milan against Henry IV., 72 ; allied 
with Pavia, 75 ; factions in, 75 ; 
destruction of, by Milanese, 76 ; 
liberty of, decreed by Barbarossa, 
100 ; villages of, destroyed by 
Milanese, 106 ; rebuilt on new site, 
106 ; besieged by the Lombard 
League, 133 ; joins the League, 
133 ; assembly summoned by Otho 
to, 216 ; submits to Frederick II., 
273 ; factions in, 313 ; Succio dei 
Vistarini obtains power in, 313 ; 
alliance of, with Milan, 313 ; comes 
under della Torre, 333 ; rival 
families in, 348 ; Guelfs seize Lodi, 
364 ; war in Lombardy centres 
round, 366 ; rule of Vistarini in, 
383 ; Antonio Fisiraga, lord of, 
387 ; revolt of, from Henry VII., 
403 ; taken by Fisiraga, 409 ; under 
Vistarini, 415 ; downfall of Vistarini 
in, 446 ; ruled by Tremacoldo, 451 ; 
added to dominions of Visconti, 

459 

Loggia, 80 

Lombard League, origin of, 127 ; 
foundation of, 130, 131 ; rebuilds 
Milan, 131 ; members of, 136 ; 
objects of, 137 ; constitution of, 137 ; 
builds Alessandria, 138 ; members 
of, 140 ; negotiations of, with 
Emperor, 150 ; members of, 153 ; 
real nature of, 159 ; renewal of, by 
eleven cities, 163 ; revival of, 339 ; 
objects of second, 240 ; results of, 
disastrous for Communes, 309 

Lombard Street, 182, 229 ■ 

Lombards, The, settlement of, in 
Italy, 19 ; invasion of, 35 ; kingdom 
of, conquered by Charlemagne, 36 ; 
treatment of Roman population by, 
38 ; name used to denote country 
landowners, 39 ; residences of, 39 ; 
set up Dukes in the cities, 40 ; forbid 



480 



INDEX 



the Italians to use arms, 45 ; destroy 
fortifications of cities, 46 

Lombards, banking business of, 182 ; 
name equivalent to usurer, 182 ; 
hostility of, to Frederick II., 235, 
240 ; excommunicated by Pope, 240 

Lombardy, extent of, 19 ; modern 
limits of, 20 ; conflict between 
captains and Valvassors in, 60 ; 
religious quarrels in, 67 ; feuds of, 
94 ; imperial authority in, 124 ; 
condition of, 128 ; revolt of, 130 ; 
feudal lords of, conquered by cities, 
139 ; warfare in, 163 ; position of 
nobles in, 173 ; divided into two 
factions, 195 ; chronicles of, 204 ; 
peace in, 223 ; physical features of, 
225 ; monasteries of, 226 ; prosperity 
of, 226 ; trade of, 228 ; woollen and 
silk manufactures of, 229 ; banking 
„--^n, 229 ; humanity of warfare in, 
229 ; misery in, 293 ; position of 
Frederick II. in, 299 ; divided by 
Guelf and Ghibelline factions, 310 ; 
parties in, 336 ; march of army of 
Charles of Anjou across, 337 ; Guelfs 
supreme in, 340 ; meaning of Guelf 
and Ghibelline in, 365 ; parties in, 
365 ; rulers of, 373 ; condition of, 
between 1290-1300 a.d., 386 ; Iron 
Crown of, 401 ; disappearance of 
republican institutions from, 407 ; 
state of parties in, 416 ; liberty 
almost extinct in, 450 ; condition 
of cities in, 450 ; enthusiastic re- 
ception of King John of Bohemia 
in, 452 ; league of despots of, against 
him, 453 

Lomello, Counts of, 73, 153, 172, 248 

Lothair of Saxony, chosen Emperor, 
92 ; supported by Pope, 96 ; visits 
Italy, 96 ; besieges Crema, 96 ; 
crowned at Rome, 96 ; captures 
Piacenza, 97 ; death of, 97, 193 

Lothair of Supplinburg, see Lothair of 
Saxony 

Louis of Bavaria, competitor for 
Empire, 417 ; obtains empire, 430 ; 
takes Visconti under his protec- 
tion, 438 ; excommunicated, 444 ; 
crowned at Milan, 445 ; imprisons 



the Visconti, 445 ; crowned at 
Rome, 445 ; conduct of, in Italy, 
447 ; quarrels with his supporters, 
447 ; releases Visconti, 447 ; sells 
Milan to Azzo Visconti, 447 ; sets 
up an Anti-pope, 448 ; attacks 
Milan, 449 ; withdraws south of 
the Po, 449 ; garrisons Emilian 
cities, 450 ; leaves Italy 450 
Louis the Pious, the Emperor, 43 
Lucca, Towers of, 80 ; hostile to Pisa, 
299 ; King John made lord of, 452 ; 
sold to Rossi, 457 ; surrendered to 
Scaligers, 458 
Lugano, Lake of, 88 ; revolts from 
Como, 89 ; conquests of Milan, near, 
225 
Lupi, family of, joins Guelfs, 301 ; 

captured and hanged, 317, 372 
Lupicini, family of, joins Guelfs, 301 
Lyons, Council of, 297 ; Frederick II. 
deposed by Council of, 298 



M 

Maestri Comacini, 86 
Maggi, among leading Guelfs of 
Brescia, 345 ; become Ghibelline, 

345 
Maggi, Bishop, given lordship of 

Brescia, 345 ; favours Ghibellines, 

387 ; good government of, 388 ; 

Matteo, lord of Brescia, 404 
Maggiore, Lake, Small communes on, 

164 ; war on, 363 
Mala Morte, battle of, 162 
Malaspina, Marquis Obizzo, 135 ; 

Oberto, 136 ; lands of, 173, 291 
Malesardi, party name in Brescia, 

299 ; side with Frederick II., 321 ; 

join Ezzelino, 321 ; party name in 

Milan, 349 
Malta, prison of, 319 
Manfred, son of Fi-ederick II., 314, 

322, 330 ; King of Naples, 336 ; 

defeat and death of, 338 
Manfredi, Guelf family of Reggio, 

440, 449 
Mangona, Adelaide of, wife of Ezze- 
lino II., 268 ; prophecy of, 326 ; her 

kinsmen, the counts of, 328 



INDEX 



481 



Mantua, Etruscan origin of, 22 ; posi- 
tion of, 24 ; acquired by Albert 
Azzo of Canossa, 53 ; towers of, 80 ; 
fights Verona, Modena, Reggio, 83 ; 
enemy of Brescia, 93 ; people of, 
cut off the noses of 3,000 Veronese, 
97 ; joins the Lombard League, 
130 ; popular party in, supports 
Ghibellines, p. 200 ; extends its 
power, 213 ; war of, with Reggio, 
213 ; allies of, 213 ; extends its 
territories south of Po, 225 ; Palazzo 
della Ragione at, 227 ; attacked by 
Frederick IL, 265 ; submits to 
Frederick IL, 269 ; revolts from 
him, 283 ; atrocities in, 346 ; popular 
party in, Ghibelline, 350 ; vicissitudes 
of, 350 ; four factions in, 351 ; Guelf 
aristocracy of, destroyed, 351 ; Bon- 
accolsi made despot of ,by the people, 
351 ; rule of Bonaccolsi in, 383 ; 
fleet of, destroyed, 394 ; exiles re- 
stored to, by Henry VIL, 402 ; 
Bonaccolsi made Imperial Vicars 
of, 409 ; Gonzuga seize rule of, 446 

Marcharia, Count of, expelled from 
Mantua, 351 

Marchessella, Guglielmo, 141, 211 ; 
his niece, 211 

Mari, Anselmo de'. Admiral of Frede- 
rick II.'s fleet, 291, 292 

Markgraf, 41 

Markgraf of Ivrea, 50, 55 

Markgrafs of Turin, 52 ; of Mont- 
ferrat, 52 ; of Verona, 53 ; of Tus- 
cany, 53 

Markgravates, 51 ; of Ivrea, 51 I of 
FriuH, 52 

Marostica, 246 

Martesana, county of, 60, 73, 108, 113 ; 
Count of, 120 ; lords of, 135, 156 ; 
grant of, to Milan, 160 

Matilda, the " Great Countess," 54 ; 
supports Pope, 71 ; inheritance of, 
115, 151, 215, 216, 234 

Maurisio, Gherardo, 206, 253,266,315 

Mediolanum, 23 ; former name of 
Milan, 24 

Melano, 89 

Menaggio, revolts from Como, 86 ; 
plundered by Como, 89 



Milan, position of, 24 ; residence of 
Emperors of the West, 30 ; plun- 
dered by Attila, 33 ; rased to the 
ground by the Goths, 34 ; corona- 
tion of Otho I. at, 51 ; Roman capi- 
tal of North Italy, 57 ; command of 
trade routes by, 57 ; rivalry of, with 
Pa via, 58; population of, in eleventh 
century, 58 ; Archbishop of, 58 ; 
people of, attack Emperor Conrad, 
61 ; factions in, 63 ; nobles expelled 
from, 63 ; beginning of republican 
institutions in, 64 ; religious quar- 
rels in, 66 ; at war with Cremona, 
Lodi, and Pavia, 75 ; conquers Lodi, 
76 ; great assembly at, 76 ; consuls 
of, 78 ; election of consuls in, 81 ; 
ten years' war of, with Como, 85 ; 
allies of, against Como, 87 ; war- 
ships of, 89 ; allies of, 90 ; conquers 
Como, 91 ; enemies of, 93 ; allies 
of, 93 ; receives Conrad III., 93; 
submits to Lothair, 97 ; defeated 
by Pavia, 97 ; defeats Cremona, 
98 ; Carroccio of captured by 
Cremonese, 98 ; destroys small 
towns, 98 ; ordered to liberate Lodi 
by Barbarossa, 100 ; defeat of, by 
Pavia, loi ; accusations of cities 
against, loi ; endeavours to bribe 
Barbarossa, 102 ; Barbarossa de- 
stroys castles of, 102 ; rights and 
privileges of, conferred on Cremona 
by Barbarossa, 105 ; attacks Novara 
and Pavia, 105 ; preparations for 
defence against the Emperor, 105 ; 
destroys villages of Lodi, 106 ; 
allies of, 106 ; besieged by Bar- 
barossa, 107 ; negotiates peace with 
the Imperial Army, 108 ; terms of 
peace, 108 ; submission of the city 
to the Empire, 109 ; hostilities re- 
commence with Barbarossa, 114 ; 
attacks Lodi, 115 ; becomes allied 
with the Holy See, 116 ; again 
besieged by Barbarossa, 121 ; sur- 
renders unconditionally, 121 ; de- 
stroyed by Barbarossa, 122 ; joins 
the Lombard League, 130 ; rebuilt 
by the League, 131 ; defeats Bar- 
barossa at battle of Legnano, 148 ; 

31 



482 



INDEX 



receives favours from Barbarossa, 
i6o ; attacked by Cremona and 
allies, 163 ; makes peace vi^ith Como 
and Cremona, 163 ; gives jurisdic- 
tion over the Contado, 172 ; mode 
of electing consuls in, 180 ; four 
parties in, 183 ; salary of Podesta 
in, 188 ; hostility of, to House of 
Hohenstaufen, 194, 195 ; supports 
Guelfs, 198 ; traditional hostility to 
Empire in, 199 ; nobles of, become 
Ghibelline, 199 ; historians of, 204 ; 
opposes Pope Innocent, Frederick 
of Hohenstaufen, 217 ; allies of, 217 ; 
construction of Naviglio Grande at, 

226 ; Broletto of, 227 ; statistics of, 

227 ; manufactures of, 228 ; hos- 
tility of, to Frederick U., 233 ; feuds 
in, 237 ; associations in, 238 ; 
several Podestas in, 238 ; civil war 
in, 238 ; offices in, shared between 
nobles and people, 238 ; Archbishop 
of, chosen from nobility, 238 ; recog- 
nises Henry, son of Frederick H., 
as Emperor, 259 ; League renewed 
by, with ten other cities, 260 ; allies 
and opponents of, 264 ; forces of, 
270 ; great defeat of, at Cortenuova, 
272 ; fate of Carroccio of, 272 ; out- 
burst of despair in, 273 ; determines 
to resist, 274 ; army of, 282 ; dis- 
cord in, 289 ; defeat of, by Pavia, 
289 ; battle fought by, against King 
Enzio, 298 ; dissensions in, 313 ; 
nobles of lean towards Ghibellines, 
313 ; Marquis Lancia made Podesta 
of, 314 ; zeal of, for Papal cause 
cools, 314 ; attempt of Ezzelino on, 
223 ; the walls manned against 
him, 324 ; at peace with her neigh- 
bours, 330 ; quarrels between 
nobles and people in, 332 ; position 
of della Torre in, 333 ; vicissitudes 
of struggle in, 333 ; nobles join 
Ezzelino, 333 ; nobles openly side 
with Ghibellines, 333 ; della Torre 
virtual ruler of, 333 ; Pelavicini 
proclaimed Captain-General of, 
334 ; heretics in, 334 ; exclusion of 
Pelavicini from, 335 ; quarrel over 
election of Archbishop in, 335 ; new 



Archbishop, Otto Visconti, ex- 
cluded from, 335 ; interdict on, 335 ; 
lordship of, conferred on Charles of 
Anjou, 336 ; comparative stability 
of parties in, 342 ; outrage of 
soldiers of, on cross in Crema, 348 ; 
factions of follow della Torre and 
Visconti, 348 ; party names in, 
349 ; Napoleone della Torre made 
Imperial Vicar of, 362 ; war in 
Contado of, 363 ; della Torre ex- 
pelled from, 363 ; Otto Visconti 
chosen as lord of, 364 ; Ghibellines 
masters of, 364 ; peace of, with 
Brescia, Cremona, and Piacenza, 
366 ; rule of William of Montferrat 
in, 369 ; his troops expelled from, 
370 ; war of, with Como and Mont- 
ferrat, 371 ; allies of, 371 ; rule of 
Otto Visconti in, 383 ; Visconti 
driven from, 389 ; Torriani return 
to, 389 ; Guido della Torre made 
lord of, 396 ; inhabitants of , welcome 
Henry VII., 400 ; lordship of, given 
to Henry VII., 400 ; factions in, 
pacified by Henry VII., 401 ; fer- 
ment in, 402 ; Torriani expelled 
from, 403 ; Visconti left masters of, 
403 ; Matteo Visconti elected lord 
of, 417 ; Galeazzo Visconti expelled 
from, 436 ; recall of, to, 436 ; siege 
of, 437 ; relief of, by troops of Louis 
of Bavaria, 438 ; Louis of Bavaria 
crowned in, 445 ; Visconti deprived 
of power in, 445 ; republic set up 
in, 445 ; title of Vicar of, sold to 
Visconti, 448 ; rule of Visconti 
permanently established in, 448 ; 
attack on, by Louis of Bavaria, 449 

Milites, meaning of, 47 ; persons 
counted as, 48 ; equivalent to No- 
biles, 81 ; qualifications of, in Ve- 
rona, 81 : grow into a caste, 82, 
180 ; leave Piacenza, 238 

Mincio, river, 22 

Mirandola, Francesco Pico, lord of, 
442 ; hands Modena over to Bonac- 
colsi, 442 ; starved to death, 442 ; 
Niccolo della starves Bonaccolsi to 
death, 446 ; lordship of, retained 
by Pichi, 460 



INDEX 



483 



Modena, position of, 25 ; grant to 
Bishop of, 43 ; county of, granted 
to Albert Azzo of Canossa, 53 ; 
attacks Mantua, 83 ; enemy of 
Bologna, 94 ; allies of, 94 ; attacks 
Frignano, 176 ; quarrels with Bo- 
logna over Frignano, 177; grants 
privileges to captains of Frignano, 
178 ; tongue of Podesta of, torn 
out, 189 ; towers of, levelled, 192 ; 
supports Ghibellines, 198 ; at war 
with Reggio, 202, 203 ; permanent 
rivalry of, with Bologna, 210 ; 
preserves bucket captured from 
Bologna, 224 ; cathedral of, 227 ; 
attacked by Bologna and fifteen 
other cities, 242 ; allies of, 242 ; 
great victory of, 242 ; again at- 
tacked, 243 ; new victory of, 243 ; 
law schools of, 303 ; war of, with 
Bologna, 306 ; rise of, Guelf faction 
in, 306 ; defeat of, at Fossalta, 306 ; 
siege of, 307 ; forced to make peace 
and join Guelfs, 307 ; Ghibellines 
expelled from, 336 ; mountains in 
contado of, held by Ghibelline exiles, 
344 ; split among Guelf nobles of, 
344 ; moderate Guelfs of, expelled, 
344 ; they join Ghibellines, 344 ; sub- 
mission of, to Marquis of Este, 344 ; 
Ghibelline exiles of, put to death, 
347 ; party names in, 349 ; popolo 
becomes ruling element in, 357 ; 
rule of Estensi in, 383 ; revolt of, 
from Estensi, 392 ; rejoicings in, 
393 ; Guelfs fly from, 410 ; Bonac- 
colsi made lord of, 410 ; most 
turbulent of Lombard cities, 441 ; 
three factions in, 441 ; vicissitudes 
of, 441 ; Bonaccolsi expelled from, 
442 ; Francisco Pico, lord of, 442 ; 
Bonaccolsi again Lord of, 442 ; war 
of, with Bologna, 443 ; Bonaccolsi 
expelled from, 444 ; peace in, 444 ; 
rejoicings in, on approach of Em- 
peror, 450 ; still free, 451 ; King 
John made lord ,of, 452 ; assigned 
by league of despots to Estensi, 
454 ; bravery of infantry of, 456 ; 
great victory of, 456 ; surrender of, 
to Estensi, 459 



Mondovi, 164, 387, 397 

Mongols, invasion of, 290 

Monsehce, 267, 319, 429, 430 

Montagnana, 278, 292, 429 

Montecchi, Shakespeare's Montagues, 
210 ; feud of, with Count of San 
Bonifazio, 210 ; seize Verona, 212 ; 
expelled, 213 ; allied to, merchants, 
248 ; put to death by Ezzelino, 
316 

Monte Veglio, battle of, 443 

Montferrat, hills of, 21 ; feudal lords 
of, 21, 22 ; Markgrafs of, 52 ; 
Marquis of, 74 ; complains of ag- 
gressions of Chieri and Asti to Bar- 
barossa, loi ; forced to join the 
Lombard League, 139 ; Marquises 
of, remain independent of the 
cities, 172 ; Marquis of, on side of 
Frederick IL, 218 ; revolt of, from, 
259 ; submits to Frederick n.,274 ; 
attacks Genoa, 291 ; abandons 
cause of Frederick IL, 292 ; rejoins 
his side, 298 ; takes Turin, 305 ; 
Marquis William of, sides with 
Charles of Anjou, 337 ; goes over 
to Ghibellines, 362 ; head of the 
Ghibelline party, 364 ; cities sub- 
ject to, 364 ; lord of Milan, 
366 ; career of, 366 ; power of 
house of, 367 ; connection of, with 
the East, 367 ; designs of Marquis 
William of, 368 ; acquisitions of, 
368 ; Otto Visconti makes him 
supreme in Milan, 369 ; expulsion 
of, from Milan, 370 ; war of, with 
Visconti, 371 ; subjects and allies 
of, 371 ; made Signore of Pavia, 
372 ; captured by people of Ales- 
sandria, 372 ; imprisonment of, in 
a cage, and death of, 372 ; Marquis 
Giovanni of, forms league against 
Visconti, 373 ; successes of, 373 ; 
acquisition of Casale, Ivrea, Va- 
lenza, and Asti, by Marquises of, 
461 ; Marquis of, joins league 
against Visconti, 462 ; made lord 
of Pavia, 463 ; helps final struggles 
of Pavia, 463 ; mercenaries desert 
from, 464 
Monti Euganei, position of, 21, 25 ; 



484 



INDEX 



possessions of the House of Este in, 
206, 287 

Monvelio, 153, 164 

Monza, claims of, re coronation cere- 
mony, 51 ; Conrad III. crowned at, 
95 ; repulse of Ezzelino from, 324 ; 
seized by Guelfs, 436 ; captured by 
Guelf army, 437 ; retaken by Vis- 
conti, 438 

Morena, Otho, 107 

Morena, Acerbus, 107, 128, 129, 135 

Motta, faction of, in Milan, 183, 338 

Mussato, 206, 424, 426, 428 

N 

Naples, see Sicily 

Narses, 34 

Nizza, 164 

Nobiles, meaning of, 81 ; exclusion 
of, from power, 354 ; laws against, 
355 

Normans, monarchy of, 115 ; aid 
Alexander III., 128 ; dominions of, 
conquered by Henry VI., 162 

Novara, position of, 24 ; burned by 
Henry V., 76 ; hostile to Milan, 93 ; 
welcomes Barbarossa, 102 ; terri- 
tory of, seized by Milan, 105 ; di- 
vides Biandrate with Vercelli, 169 ; 
becomes an ally of Milan, 203 ; 
submits to Frederick II., 274 ; re- 
enters League, 292 ; submits to 
Frederick II., 305 ; again enters 
League, 305 ; controlled by Oberto 
Pelavicini, 334 ; Martino della 
Torre chosen Signore of, 334 ; 
party names in, 349 ; Guelfs ex- 
pelled from, 362 ; Ghibellines ex- 
pelled from, 373 ; factions of, paci- 
fied by Henry VII,, 400 ; revolt of, 
from Henry VII., 408 ; under 
Tornielli, 451 ; King John made 
lord of, 452 ; seizure of, by Visconti, 
455 

O 

Oculus Pastorum, 188 

Odovacer conquers Italy, 34 ; divides 

lands among his followers, 38 
Oglio River, 22, 161, 270, 323 



Onara, Castle of, 207 

Optimates, meaning of, 45 

Ordinances of Justice, 355 

Ostrogoths invade Italy, 34 ; destroy 
Milan, 34 ; conquest of, by Byzan- 
tines, 34 

Otho of Bavaria, 194 ; Head of the 
House of Welf, 195 ; Emperor, 214 ; 
pacifies the Mark, 214 ; crowned at 
Rome, 215 ; quarrels with Pope, 
216 ; invades Southern Italy, 216 ; 
partisans of, 217 ; death of, 219 

Otho of Brunswick, see Otho of 
Bavaria 

Otho of Freisingen, 48, 74 ; letter of 
Frederick I. to, loi, 107, 180 

Otho of Saxony invades Italy, 51 ; 
crowned Emperor, 51 ; his son, 51 ; 
his grandson, 51 



Padua, foundation of, 22 ; position 
of, 24 ; expels the Imperial gover- 
nor, 127 ; joins the Lombard 
League, 127 ; defeats Vicenza, 
209 ; aids Ezzelino, 214 ; sides 
with Otho, 217 ; besieges Este, 
220 ; war of, with Venice, 222 ; 
tribute of hens sent by, to Venice, 
222 ; aspires to leadership of 
Mark, 245 ; war of, against Ezze- 
lino, 450 ; war of, with Treviso, 
251 ; welcomes Fra Giovanni 
of Schio, 256 ; overthrows his 
power in Vicenza, 258 ; attack on, 
by Ezzelino, 267 ; measures of 
defence taken by, 267 ; surrenders 
to Ezzelino, 268 ; attempted revolt 
of, 277 ; stay of Frederick II. in, 
278 ; reign of terror in, 286 ; 
prisons in, 294 ; atrocities of 
Ezzelino in, 316 ; capture of, by 
crusading army, 318 ; sack of, 
319 ; victims of Ezzelino released 
in, 319 ; eleven thousand burghers 
of, put to death by Ezzelino, 320 ; 
obtains Bassano, 330 ; steadily 
Guelf, 350 ; war of, with Estensi, 

373 ; conquests of, from Estensi, 

374 ; declares against Henry VII., 



INDEX 



485 



409 ; state of, 424 ; democratic 
government of, 425 ; public build- 
ings of, 425 ; makes war on Can 
Grande, 425 ; seditions in, 425 ; 
demagogues murdered in, 426 ; 
attack of, on Vicenza, 426 ; army 
of 427 ; rout of, 428 ; forced to sue 
for peace, 429 ; despot proclaimed 
in, 429 ; siege of, 430 ; lordship of, 
given to Frederick of Austria, 430 ; 
surrender of, to Can Grande, 431 

Pallanza, 164 

Pallavicini, see Pelavicini 

Panaro River, 21, 22 

Paquara, assembly at, 256 

Paris, MattheviT, 273 

Parlamento, 79, 189 

Parma, position of, 25 ; grant to 
Bishop of, 43 ; Bishop of, made 
ruler of the whole diocese, 44 ; 
fights Cremona and Piacenza, 83 ; 
hostility of, to Piacenza, 93 ; allies 
of, 94 ; supports Conrad III., 96 ; 
fights Piacenza, Cremona, and 
Reggio, 97 ; fights Milan, Piacenza, 
and Crema, 98 ; burns Borgo San 
Donnino, 98 ; joins the Lombard 
League, 132 ; at war with Piacenza, 
162 ; guilds in, 182 ; prominence 
of butchers in, 186 ; middle classes 
of, indifferent to factions, 200 ; 
origin of Guelfs in, 200 ; war with 
Piacenza, 202 ; allies of, 202 ; gains 
the upper hand, 203 ; Fra Salim- 
bene of, 205 ; captured war 
machines placed in cathedral 
of, 224 ; cathedral of, 227 ; cloth 
of, 228 ; rising of trades guilds in, 
300 ; relatives of Pope Innocent 
IV. in, 300 ; formation of Guelf 
faction in, 301 ; expulsion of Guelf 
families from, 301 ; march of exiles 
on, 301 ; capture of, by exiles, 302 ; 
defection of, from Frederick II., 
302 ; siege of, 302 ; allies of, 303 ; 
cruelties at siege of, 303 ; Frederick 
builds Vittoria before gates of, 
304 ; sally of burghers of, 304 ; 
great victory of, 305 ; great defeat 
of, by Piacenza and Cremona, 308 ; 
Carroccio of, captured, 308 ; peace 



of, with Cremona, 314 ; fate of 
captives of , 3 14 ; rule of Ghiberto da 
Gente in, 314 ; his expulsion from, 
337 ; expulsion of Ghibellines from, 
337 ; factions in, at first confined 
to nobles, 343 ; popolo of Guelf, 
349 ; rise of popolo in, 351 ; first 
admission of guilds to power in, 
352 ; Captain of the People in, 352 ; 
vicissitudes of this office in, 353 ; 
government of, passes into hands 
of guilds, 353 ; prosperity of, 353 ; 
gradual admission of guilds to 
power in, 354 ; disabilities of 
Ghibellines and nobles in, 355 ; 
Charles of Anjou made Signore 
of, 361 ; leading position of, 365 ; 
rule of Ghiberto da Gente in, 382 ; 
revolution in, 390 ; dissensions in, 
391 ; Ghibellines expelled from, 
391 ; exiles restored to, 392 ; 
Ghiberto da Correggio proclaimed 
Signore of, 392 ; Guelfs of, with- 
draw, 392 ; revolt of, from Henry 
VII., 408 ; under Ghiberto da 
Correggio, 411 ; expulsion of da 
Correggio from, 414 ; joins Ghibel- 
lines, 415 ; goes over to Guelfs, 
435 ; vicissitudes of, 440 ; goes 
over to Ghibellines, 449 ; King 
John made lord of, 452 ; fight of, 
for freedom, 455 ; sale of, to Rossi 
by King John, 457 ; surrender of, 
to Scaligers, 458 
Patavium, richest town in Italy after 
Rome, 29 ; destruction of, by Attila, 

33 
Pavia, position of, 24 ; plundered by 
Attila, 33 ; Theodoric leaves the 
non-combatants there, 34 ; builds a 
palace there, 34 ; last refuge of 
Goths in Italy, 34 ; Henry II. 
crowned at, 55 ; destroyed by Ger- 
mans, 56 ; capital of the Lombards, 

56 ; favourable position of, 56 ; 
aristocratic character of, 57 ; popu- 
lation of, massacred, 57 ; wealth of, 

57 ; wars of, with Milan, 58 ; people 
of, destroy royal palace, 58 ; con- 
version of, to Imperial cause, 61 ; 
people of, defeated by Milanese, 



INDEX 



68 ; attacks Tortona, 75 ; defeat of, 
by Milan, 75 ; towers of, 80 ; duel 
of, with Milan, 93 ; allies of, 94 ; 
supports Lothair, 96 ; defeats Milan, 
97 ; captures Milanese camp, loi ; 
Barbarossa receives crown of 
Lombardy at, 104 ; council con- 
voked at, by Barbarossa, 119 ; 
destroys Tortona, 125 ; Barbarossa 
assembles an army at, 135 ; forced 
to join the Lombard League, 139 ; 
resumes allegiance to the Empire, 
142 ; congress at, 146 ; given juris- 
diction over the contado, 172 ; 
towers of, 192 ; supports Ghibel- 
lines, 198 ; allied to House of 
Hohenstaufen, 199 ; popular party 
in Ghibelline, 200 ; forced to make 
peace with Milan, 203 ; chronicler 
of, 205 ; declares for Frederick IL, 
217 ; great victory of, over Milan 
and five other cities, 220 ; gradual 
decline of, 222 ; walls of, 226 ; 
Frederick IL enters, 274 ; defeats 
Milanese, 289 ; truce of, with 
Milan, 293 ; activity of, in attack- 
ing Genoa, 293 ; men of, protest 
against cruelties of Frederick II., 
304 ; nobles of, become Guelf, 312 ; 
makes peace with Milan, 313 ; 
under Oberto Pelavicini, 334 ; 
nobles of, five times expelled 
from, 342 ; Count of Langusco 
heads Guelfs in, 349 ; Beccheria 
head popolo in, 349 ; party names 
in, 349 ; factions in, 371 ; William 
of Montferrat made lord of, 372 ; 
under Count of Langusco, 373 ; 
steady decline of, 374 ; factions in, 
374 ; bridge of, carried off by 
Piacentines, 374 ; present aspect 
of, 375 ; Ghibellines expelled from, 
408 ; Robert of Naples lord of, 
411 ; capture of, by Milanese, 413 ; 
Beccheria made lords of, 413 ; 
King John made lord of, 452 ; 
Beccheria stir up revolt in, 455 ; 
become masters of, 455 ; surrender 
of castle of, 456 ; history of Lom- 
bardy centres round rivalry be- 
tween Milan and, 462 ; prosperity 



of, under Beccheria, 462 ; war of, 
with Milan, 462 ; influence of Fra 
Jacopo dei Bussolari in, 462 ; 
Marquis of Montferrat Signore of, 
463 ; heroism of inhabitants of, 
463 ; famine in, 464 ; surrender 
of, 464 ; Visconti become masters 
of, 464 

Pedemonte, see Piedmont 

Pelavicini, Oberto, 291, 302, 308, 314 ; 
alliance of, with Ezzelino, 320 ; 
quarrels with him, 322 ; joins 
league against him, 322 ; becomes 
lord of Brescia, 330 ; refuses to 
abandon Manfred, 330 ; leader of 
Lombard GhibeUines, 331 ; his 
career, 331 ; favoured heretics, 
331 ; made Captain-General of 
Milan, 334 ; cities subject to him, 
334 ; shut out from Milan, 335 ; 
ally of Milanese nobles, 335 ; 
opposes Charles of Anjou, 337 ; 
driven from Brescia, 337 ; and 
from Cremona, 338 ; expelled from 
Piacenza, 338 ; family of, 338 ; 
take name of Pallavicini, 338 ; rule 
of Oberto in Brescia, 344 ; cities 
ruled by, 382 

Pepoli Romeo dei, richest man in 
Italy, 439 ; Taddeo, becomes Sig- 
nore of Bologna, 461 

Pergamum, 23 

Philip of Hohenstaufen, competitor 
for Empire, 202 ; murder of, 214 

PhiHp of Valois invades Italy, 418 

Piacenza, position of, 25 ; conquered 
by Lombards, 35 ; Bishop of, 68 ; 
League of, with Milan against 
Henry IV., 72 ; division of offices 
in, 83 ; fights Parma, 83 ; enemy 
of Parma and Pavia, 93 ; ally of 
Milan, 93 ; captured by Lothair, 
97 ; wars of, 97, 98 ; joins the 
Lombard League, 132 ; congress 
at, 154 ; at war with Parma, 162 ; 
conflicts between nobles and 
popolo in, 184 ; Ghibellines sup- 
ported by popolo in, 200 ; granted 
Borgo San Donnino by Henry VI., 
202 ; war of, with Parma in con- 
sequence, 202 ; allies of, 203 ; 



INDEX 



487 



dissensions between milites and 
popolo in, 238 ; final victory of 
former, 239 ; factions in, 264 ; ad- 
heres to second Lombard League, 
264 ; revolt of people in, 308 ; 
Guelf nobles leave, 308 ; joins 
Frederick IL, 308 ; great victory 
of, over Parma, 308 ; abandons 
traditional alliance with Milan, 
312 ; under Oberto Pelavicini, 314 ; 
expulsion of Pelavicini from, 322 ; 
recovered by him, 331 ; expulsion 
of Pelavicini from, 339 ; on side of 
Guelfs, 340 ; factions in, dependent 
on class rivalries, 342 ; contado of, 
in power of Ghibelline exiles, 344 ; 
rivalry of Scotti and Landi in, 349 ; 
party tendencies in, 350 ; Charles 
of Anjou made Signore of, 361 ; 
ravages lands of Pavia, 374 ; Alberto 
Scotto made Signore of, 384 ; ex- 
pulsion of Alberto Scotto from, 
391 ; Guido della Torre lord of, 
396 ; expulsion of Ghibellines from, 
409 ; restoration of, by Alberto 
Scotto, 409 ; vicissitudes of, 411 ; 
Galeazzo Visconti made lord of, 
412 ; capture of, by Guelfs, 435 ; 
lordship of, given to Pope, 436 ; 
Ghibellines expelled from, 436 ; 
Guelfs expelled from, 460 ; sur- 
render of, to Visconti, 461 

Piave River, 22 

Piedmont, situation of, 19 ; towns of, 
52 ; general war in, 243 ; parties 
in, 264 ; cities of, submit to 
Frederick IL, 274 ; cities of, 
Ghibelline, 365 ; confused struggle 
in. 397 ; Guelfs hold their own in, 
416 ; cities of, preserve liberty 
under King Robert, 461 ; his death 
ruin of Guelf cause in, 462 

Pii, Manfredo, commands in Modena, 
455 ; Modena sold to, 457 ; sur- 
render city to Estensi, 459 ; retain 
lordship of Carpi, 460 

Pilei put to death by Ezzelino, 316 

Pisa, chains of port of, 225 ; treatment 
of prisoners of, by Genoese, 230; 
fits out fleet to aid Frederick IL, 
288 ; great victory of, over Genoa, 



289 ; fleet of, attacks Riviera, 292 ; 
operations of, 292 ; fleet of, holds 
the sea, 292 ; active in cause of 
Frederick 1 1., 299 ; at head of 
Tuscan Ghibellines, 337 ; " Hunger 
Tower " in, 347 

Placentia, 23 

Pliny, 30 

Po River, 20 ; watershed of, 21 ; 
tributaries of, 22 

Podesta, institution of, iii ; replaces 
Consuls, 186, 187 ; functions of, 

187 ; restrictions on power of, 

188 ; dangers of office of, 189 ; 
Council of, 189 ; more than one 
in some Communes, 190 ; seat of, 
in Palace of the Commune, 353 

Podesta of the Mercadanza, see 
Podesta of the Merchants 

Podesta of the Merchants, of Reggio 
murdered, 301 ; of Cremona, 334, 
352 ; of Verona, 433 

Podesta of the People, 352 

de Poiet, Cardinal of, 418 ; assembles 
army to attack Milan, 435 ; negoti- 
ates with a party in Milan, 436 ; 
abilities of, 437 ; attacks Modena, 
444 ; Bologna gives herself to, 
450 ; extends his rule over Ro- 
magna, 451 ; alleged league of, 
with John of Bohemia, 453 ; sup- 
ports free cities, 455 ; is defeated 
before Ferrara, 456 ; Romagna 
revolts from, 456 ; so does Bologna, 

457 

Pontremoli, 165 ; the Rossi recog- 
nised as sovereigns of, 458 

Ponzino dei Ponzoni, 414, 426 ; 
Cremona sold to, 457 ; surrenders 
to Visconti, 458 

Pope Leo III. crowns Charlemagne, 
36 ; rule of, in Rome, 36 ; Alex- 
ander IL, 68; Paschal IL, 84; 
Gelasius IL, 84 ; Innocent, 96 ; 
Honorius, 96 ; Adrian IV., 115, 
118 ; Alexander III., 119 ; meeting 
of, with Frederick I. at Venice, 
152 ; death of, 154 ; character of, 
154; Innocent IV., 200; Innocent 
III., 215 ; death of, 223 ; Honorius 
III., 223 ; Honorius III. organises 



488 



INDEX 



a crusade, 233 ; death of, 240 ; 
Gregory IX., 241 ; excommunicates 
Frederick II., 241 ; decision of, 
re Lombards, 255 ; attitude of, 
towards Lombards, 260 ; fortitude 
of, 283 ; death of, 290 ; character 
of, 290 ; Innocent IV., election of, 
294 ; flies from Sutri, 296 ; reaches 
Lyons and summons a General 
Council, 297 ; returns to Italy, 313 ; 
death of, 315 ; Alexander IV., 315, 
356 ; Gregory X., 361 ; Nicholas 
IV., 365 ; Clement V., 399, 411 ; 
John XXII., 415 ; under influence 
of Robert of Naples, 417 ; steps of, 
in favour of Robert, 417 

Popes, donation of Exarchate to, 
36 ; attack simony, 66 ; and the 
marriage of the clergy, 67 ; distrust 
Frederick II., 235 ; and parties of 
Lombardy, 416 ; reside at Avignon, 
417 

Popolo, meaning of, 45 ; position of, 
180 ; increase in wealth and num- 
bers of, 181 ; conflicts of, with 
nobles, 183 ; organisation of, in 
guilds, 185 ; Guelfs to some extent 
party of, 197 ; growth of power of, 
351 ; Palazzo del, 353 ; council of, 

354 
Popolo Minuto, 354 
Praeneste, 30 ; Cardinal of, 264 
Prato, 85, 165 
Priors, see Signoria 
Procopius, 35 
Provence, see Anjou 

Q 

Quattroventi, faction of, 246, 261 

R 

Radevicus, 107 

Rangoni, family of, joins Guelfs, 306 ; 
in exile, 392 

Raul Sire, 107, 204 

Ravenna, position of, 27 ; Exarchate 
of, 35 ; Exarchate of, granted to 
Popes by Pepin and Charlemagne, 
36 ; militia of, 45 ; classes of popu- 
lation of, 45 ; joins Lombard 



League, 136 ; projected diet at, 
244 ; supports Frederick II., 264 ; 
revolts from him, 280 ; surrenders 
to him, 287 ; changes of side of, 
accounted for, 300 ; joins Guelfs, 
306 ; rejoins Frederick II., 308 ; 
Archbishop of, heads crusade 
against Ezzelino, 317 

Raymond of Cordova, General of, 
King Robert of Naples, 437 ; takes 
Alessandria and Tortona, 437 

Regalia, see Regalian Rights 

Regalian Rights, no, 112, 114, 155 

Reggio, position of, 25 ; county of, 
granted to Albert Azzo of Canossa, 
53 ; attacks Mantua, 83 ; allies of, 
94 ; enemy of Mantua, 94 ; at war 
with Modena, 202, 203 ; allies of, in 
its war with Mantua and Modena, 
203 ; dissensions in, 301 ; oppo- 
nents of Sessi expelled from, 301 ; 
defeat of Mantua and Ferrara by, 
303 ; Ghibellines expelled from, 
337 ; exiles from, hold mountains 
in contado of, 344 ; Guelfs ex- 
pelled from, 344 ; Marquis of Este 
made lord of, 344 ; rival families 
in, 348 ; party names in, 349 ; 
popolo becomes ruling element in, 
351 ; rule of Estensi in, 383 ; 
revolt of, from Estensi, 392 ; revolt 
of, from Henry VII., 408 ; under 
Ghiberto da Correggio, 211 ; re- 
ceives a Papal Vicar, 435 ; vicissi- 
tudes of, 440 ; goes over to Ghi- 
bellines, 449 ; King John made 
lord of, 452 ; sale of, to Fogliani, 
457 ; victory of men of, 457 ; 
surrender of, to Scaligers, 459 ; 
handed over to Gonzaga, 459 ; 
return of exiles to, 459 

Regium, 23 

Reno, R., 22 

Rhadagaesus, invasion of, 33 

Rimini, joins Lombard League, 136 ; 
submits to Christian of Mainz, 145 ; 
supports Frederick II., 264 ; joins 
Guelfs, 306 

Rivoli, 387 

Robert, King of Naples, made lord 
of Brescia, 346 ; obtains Ferrara, 



INDEX 



489 



396; head of the extreme Guelfs, 
401 ; cities subject to, 411 ; aims at 
sovereignty of Italy, 417 ; sends 
troops against Visconti,437 ; Com- 
munes of Piedmont, under, 437, 
451 ; Brescia under the protection 
of, 451 ; joins league against John 
of Bohemia, 453 ; loses Asti, 461 : 
death of, 461 

Roberti, Guelf family of Reggio, 301, 
337, 440 ; imprisonment of, 450 

Rolandino, 206, 251, 315 

Romagna, 29, 92 ; Barbarossa in, 132; 
subdued by Christian of Mainz, 
145 ; cities of, members of Lom- 
bard League, 153 ; feuds in, 217 ; 
nine cities of, join in attack on 
Modena, 242 ; parties in, 264 ; 
obedient to Frederick IL, 288, 299 ; 
conquest of, by Bolognese and 
Papal legate, 306 ; factions in, con- 
fined to nobles, 343 ; brought under 
power of Papal legate, 451 ; lords 
of, captured before Ferrara, 456 ; 
revolt of, from legate, 456 

Romano, Alberic of, Podesta of 
Vicenza, 250 ; expelled, 251 ; revolt 
of serfs of, 251 ; revolts from 
Frederick IL, 280 ; comes to help 
Parma, 303 ; joins crusade against 
Ezzelino, 319 ; opens negotiations 
with him, 320 ; makes peace with 
him, 320 ; driven from Treviso, 
327 ; tyranny of, 327 ; besieged in 
San Zenone, 328 ; fate of, 328 

Romano, Castle of, 207 

Romano, Cunizza of, marriage of, 
246 ; her will, 328 ; Dante's refer- 
ence to, 329 ; connection of, with 
Sordello, 329 

Romano, House of, origin of, 207 ; 
feuds of, 208 ; attitude of, towards 
Hohenstauf ens, 247 ; extirpation of, 
328 

Rome, Duchy of, 36 ; classes of popu- 
lation in, 45 ; coronation of Emperor 
at, 51 ; taken by Barbarossa, 134 ; 
Barbarossa crowned at, 134 ; pro- 
cession of Pope Gregory in, 283 ; 
Frederick 1 1, marches on, 289 ; 
he withdraws from before, 290 ; 



cardinals fly from, 290 ; hostile to 
Frederick II. , 299 ; ruled by 
Bernardo da Polenta, 395 
Roncaglia, assembly at, 64 ; Diet 
assembled at, by Barbarossa, 109 
Rosate, Castle of, 102 
Rossi, of Parma, join Guelfs, 301 ; 
leave city, 392 ; attack San Vitale, 
435 ; rule Parma for six years, 440 ; 
changes of party of, 440, 449 ; 
expel Papal garrison from Parma, 
449 ; and from Reggio, 449 ; Parma 
and Lucca sold to, 457 ; surrender 
to Martino della Scala, 458 ; retain 
lordship of Pontremoh, 458 
Rovigo, Polesine of, 54, 173, 206, 396 
Rudolph of Habsburg, 309, 362, 365 
Rusconi, leaders of nobles in Como, 
333, 349 ; seize Como, 362 ; discord 
among, 370 ; seek protection of 
Visconti, 372, 383 ; join league 
against Visconti, 389 ; expelled 
from Como, 390 ; restored by 
Henry VII., 413 ; expel Vitani, 
413 ; made Imperial Vicars, 445 ; 
hand Como over to Visconti, 459 ; 
retain Bellinzona, 459 



Saint Ambrose, 57 ; supposed privi- 
lege granted by, to Milanese clergy, 
67 

Salimbene, Fra, 205, 293, 302 

Salinguerra, son of Torello, 211 ; 
feud of, with Marquis of Este, 212 ; 
ally of Ezzelino, 212 ; seizes Fer- 
rara, 214 ; shares rule of Ferrara, 
220; grants of Pope Innocent III. 
to, 223 ; opposed to Frederick II., 
247 ; joins his party, 267 ; pros- 
perity of Ferrara under, 283 ; down- 
fall of, 285 ; rule of, in Ferrara, 
380, 381 

Saluzzo, Markgrafs of, 52 ; Marquis 
of, 373, 408 

San Bonifazio, Counts of, 73 ; repre- 
sent former Counts of Verona, 206 ; 
feud of, with Montecchi, 210 ; Count 
Richard of, 246 ; politics of, 248 ; 
attempts to seize Verona, 261 ; his 



490 



INDEX 



party expelled, 261 ; castle of, be- 
sieged, 269 ; Count of, submits to 
Frederick II., 269 ; revolt of, 281 ; 
Castle of, captured and destroyed, 
293 ; Leonisio of, 321 ; expelled 
from Verona, 330 ; final expulsion 
of, from Verona, 350, 385 ; alienated 
from Marquis of Este, 351 ; expelled 
from Mantua, 351 ; Viciguerra of, 
428 

San Cassiano, 140, 145, 147, 156 

San Gemignano, 85, 165 ; towers of, 
192 

San Marino, 165 

San Procolo, battle of, 360 

San Vitale, family of, joins Guelfs, 

301 ; expelled by Da Correggio, 
391 ; expelled by Rossi, 435 ; share 
rule of Parma with Rossi, 440, 449 

San Zeno, Castle of, last refuge of 

Alberic of Romano, 327 
Saracens invade Italy, 37 ; of Sicily, 

236 ; bowmen, 270, 275 ; of Lucera, 

302 ; atrocities of, 294 
Sassuolo, Castle of, 344 ; nobles of, 

392, 441 ; leave Modena, 441 

Savigliano, 164, 369, 397 

Savignano, Castle of, 344 ; nobles of, 
441 ; leave Modena, 441 

Savona, Markgrafs of, 52 ; revolt of, 
from Genoa, 291 ; siege of, 292 ; 
makes peace with Genoa, 313 

Savoy, feudal lords of, 26 ; House of, 
52 ; authority of Count of, in Pied- 
mont, 142 ; Count of, hostile to 
Frederick II., 218 ; defection of, 
from Frederick II., 297 ; returns to 
his allegiance, 298 ; is reconciled 
with Pope, 313 ; Turin taken from 
House of, 368 ; rule of, in Turin and 
Aosta, 378 ; Philip of, revolts from 
Henry VII., 408 ; Philip of, leads 
Guelf party, 411 ; acquisition of 
Alba and Chieri by House of, 462 

Saxon line, 51 ; extinction of, 55 

Scaligers, sec Delia Scala 

Scholse, 39, 45 

Scotti, family of, head of Guelfs in 
Piacenza, 349, 411 ; expel Verzusio 
Landi, 436 

Scotto, Alberto, rule of, in Pia- 



cenza, 384 ; allied with Visconti, 
387 ; rules Bergamo for a year, 
387 ; organises league against Vis- 
conti, 389 ; betrays Matteo Visconti, 
389 ; quarrels with Torriani, 390 ; 
driven from Piacenza, 391 ; vicissi- 
tudes of, 396 ; restores Ghibellines 
to Piacenza, 409 ; expels leaders of 
both factions and again becomes 
lord, 411 ; downfall of, 412 ; per- 
fidy of, 412 ; Francesco, his son, 
becomes master of Piacenza, 460 ; 
surrenders to Visconti, 460 ; retains 
Firenzuola, 460 

Senones, the, 28 

Seprio, County of, 60, 73, 108, 113 ; 
Count of, 120 ; lords of, 135, 136, 
156 ; grant of, to Milan, 160 ; feu- 
dality of, 178 

Sesia, River, 22, 24 

Sessi, murder Podesta of Merchants 
in Reggio, 301 ; opponents of, ex- 
pelled from Reggio, 301 ; expelled 
from Reggio, 337 ; maintain them- 
selves in the mountains, 344 ; lead 
Ghibellines of Reggio, 348 ; in 
exile, 392 ; recalled, 440 ; expelled, 
440 ; in exile, 441 ; return of, 459 

Sicard, Bishop of Cremona, 139, 160, 
161, 204 

Sicily, 115 ; King of, 126 ; William 
King of, 130 ; Frederick 11. and, 
234 ; Saracens of, revolt, 236 ; fleet 
of, 292 ; crown of, given to Charles 
of Anjou, 336 

Signore, name for ruler of the Com- 
mune, 377 ; becomes equivalent to 
Despot, 377 ; varieties of, 378 ; 
character of the, 379 ; offices from 
which his power arose, 380 ; be- 
comes a legitimate prince, 380 ; 
insecurity of position of, 388 ; 
theoretical constitution under, 433 ; 
in practice absolute, 433 ; ultimate 
source of all law, 433 

Signoria, name of governing body in 
the Commune, 189 ; name used to 
indicate rule of a despot, 377 

Siena, 49 ; magistracy of the nove in, 
190 ; remains of towers in, 192 ; 
trophies from, in Perugia, 224 ; 



INDEX 



491 



active in cause of Frederick II., 
299; heads Tuscan Ghibellinesi 
337 ; laws against nobles in, 355 

Soardi, family of, 349, 387 

Solarii, leaders of Guelfs of Asti, 390 ; 
supreme in Asti, 451 

Spoleto, Duchy of, 141, 215, 234 

Susa, position of, 26 ; Markgrafs of, 
52 ; attacks Barbarossa, 136 ; burned 
by Barbarossa, 142 

Sutri, 296 

Suzara, Castle of, 212 

Symonds, quotation from, 201, 277 



Taddeo of Suessa, 297, 298 ; slain 
before Parma, 305 

Taro, River, 22 

Thedald, made Archbishop of Milan 
by Emperor, 70 ; crowns Henry IV., 
71 

Theodoric, conquers Italy, 34 ; resi- 
dences at Ravenna, Pavia, and 
Verona, 34 ; distribution of lands 
by, 38 

Thessalonica, Kingdom of, 367 

Ticino River, 22 

Ticinum, old name of Pavia, 34 ; 
residence of Theodoric, 34 

Torelli, 193 ; oppose Adelardi in Fer- 
rara, 211 ; restored to Ferrara, 395 

Tornielli, made Imperial Vicars in 
Novara, 445 ; rulers of Novara, 451 ; 
overthrow of, 455 

Torriani, see Delia Torre 

Tortona, position of, 26 ; allied with 
Milan, 94 ; siege of, by Barbarossa, 
102 ; captured and burned by Bar- 
barossa, 103 ; rebuilt by Milanese, 
105 ; destroyed by Pavia, 125 ; re- 
built by Parma and Piacenza, 
136 ; defection from the Lombard 
League, 150 ; given jurisdiction 
over the contado, 172 ; at war 
with Genoa, 237 ; under Oberto 
Pelavicini, 334 ; handed over by 
him to Pavia, 339 ; under William 
of Montferrat, 368 ; under Pelavi- 
cini, 368 ; again under William, 
369 ; captured by Visconti, 412 ; 



surrender of, to Guelfs, 437 ; acqui- 
sition of, by Visconti, 462 
Towers built by nobles in the cities, 
80, 191 ; height of, limited by law, 
.192 ; number and names of, in 
Bologna, 355 
Trebbia, R., 22 

Tremacoldo conspires against Vis- 
tarini, 446 ; starves them to death, 
446 ; ruler of Lodi, 451 ; surrenders 
to Visconti, 459 
Trent, position of, 26 ; burghers of, 
in army of Frederick II., 269 ; taken 
by Ezzelino, 315 ; recovers its free- 
dom, 327 ; Louis of Bavaria at, 445 
Trepievi, Federation of, 88 ; warship 
of, 88 ; make peace with Como, 89 ; 
exclusion of, from Peace of Con- 
stance, 156 ; an independent mem- 
ber of the League, 164 ; struggles 
of, with Como, 167 
Trevisan Mark, see Veronese Mark 
Treviso, position of, 25 ; war of, with 
Verona and Vicenza, 97 ; joins the 
Lombard League, 127 ; attacks 
Belluno, 209 ; war with Venice 
and Patriarch of Aquileia, 209 ; 
aids Ezzelino, 214 ; festival in, 221 ; 
condition of, 245 ; incited by Ezze- 
lino to attack Feltre and Bellano, 
251 ; reconciled with her enemies 
by Era Giovanni of Schio, 256 ; 
surrenders to Ezzelino, 268 ; revolts 
from Frederick II., 280 ; lands of, 
granted to Padua, 281 ; resists 
Ezzelino, 299 ; under Alberic of 
Romano, 315 ; joins in crusade 
against Ezzelino, 319 ; goes over 
to his side, 320 ; executions in, 321 ; 
Alberic flies from, 327 ; tyranny of 
Alberic in, 327 ; Great Council 
of, passes sentence on House of 
Romano, 327 ; factions in, 386 ; 
Gherardo da Camino becomes lord 
of, 386 ; Rizzardo da Camino made 
Imperial Vicar of, 409 ; expulsion 
of Da Camino from, 410 ; attack on, 
by Can Grande, 430 ; German gar- 
rison received in, 430 ; invokes help 
from Frederick of Austria, Henry 
of Carinthia, and Louis of Bavaria, 



402 



INDEX 



430 ; surrender of, to Can Grande, 

431 ; death of Can Grande in, 432 
Trezzo, Castle of, 114, 133, 324 
Trotti, Guelfs in Alessandria, 368, 

369 

Turin, position of, 26 ; Markgrafs of, 
52 ; welcomes Barbarossa, 102 ; 
joins Second Lombard League, 
239 ; Frederick IL advances to, 
297 ; supports Charles of Anjou, 
337 ; under William of Montferrat, 
368 ; recovered by Savoy, 369 

Tuscany, small communes of, 85 ; 
obedient to Frederick L, 140, 165 ; 
statutes of communes in, i66 ; par- 
tisans of Frederick IL in, 299 ; in 
hands of the Ghibellines, 337 



U 

Ubaldini, 169 ; Cardinal Ottaviano 
degli, 305 ; Dante's reference to, 306 

Uberti, 198, 299 

Uberto de Iniquitate, 308 

Ddine, 25 

Uguccione della Fagginola, 423 

Umiliati, start vi^ooUen manufactures, 
229 ; manage finances of Verona, 
433 



Val di Nievole, Castelli of, 85 

Val di Taro, 343 

Valenza, 461 

Valsassina, lordship of Delia Torre 
family, 273, 332 

Valtellina, claims of Como to, 73 ; 
ravaged by Milanese, 90 ; struggles 
with Como, 167 ; forced to recog- 
nise Como as its feudal superior, 
172 ; policy of Como towards, 178 

Valvassores, see Valvassors 

Valvassors, meaning of, 47 ; wish to 
make their fiefs hereditary, 60 ; 
war of, with captains in Milan, 
60 ; expelled from Lodi, 75 ; posi- 
tion of, in the Communes, 81 ; of 
Milan, 237, 238 

Vaprio, battle of, 366, 438 

Varenna, men of Isola Comacina 
settle at, 140 



Vasto, Marquises of, 153 
Veneti, The, 20, 22 ; forces of, 29 
Venetia, Province of, 20, 31 
Venice, position of, 25 ; foundation 
of, 33 ; allied with the Greek Em- 
pire, 126 ; joins the Lombard ^| 
League, 127 ; quarrels with the 
Greek Empire, 141 ; blockades 
Ancona, 141 ; congress at, 151 ; 
reconciliation of Barbarossa with 
the Holy See at, 152 ; peace of, 
152-153 ; closing of Grand Council 
in, 181 ; war of, with Treviso, 209 ; 
war of, with Padua, 222 ; peace 
brought about by, in March, 265 ; 
takes action against Frederick IL, 
279 ; jealousy of, with regard to 
Ferrara, 284 ; joins in crusade 
against Ezzelino, 317 ; illumina- 
tions in on downfall of Ezzelino, 
327 ; seizes Ferrara, 395 ; people 
of excommunicated, 395 ; great 
defeat of, 396 
Ventura, chronicle of, 397 ; his de- 
scription of the effects of faction, 
398 
Vercelli, position of, 24 ; Bishop of, 
made ruler of the whole diocese, 
44 ; Bishop of, 68 ; its neighbours, 
93 ; welcomes Barbarossa, 102 ; 
founds Villanova, 168 ; founds 
Borgofranco, 169 ; divides Bian- 
drate with Novara, 169 ; hostile to 
Frederick IL, 218 ; submits to 
Frederick 1 1., 274 ; defection of 
from Frederick 1 1., 292 ; changes 
of side of, accounted for, 300 ; goes 
over to Frederick IL, 305 ; under 
Oberto Pelavicini, 334 ; Filippo 
della Torre recognised as signore 
of, 334 ; stormed by army of Charles 
of Anjou, 338 ; William of Mont- 
ferrat war captain of, 369 ; Ghibel- 
lines expelled from, 373 ; factions 
of pacified by Henry VII., 400 ; 
revolt of, from Henry VII., 408 ; 
street fighting in, 409 ; victory of 
Guelfs in, 409 ; surrender of, to 
Ghibellines, 418 ; King John made 
lord of, 452 ; handed over to 
Visconti, 455 



INDEX 



m 



Verona, position of, 25 ; plundered 
by Attila, 33 ; " Chiuse " of, 53 ; 
Mark of, 53 ; towers of, 80 ; attacks 
Mantua, 83 ; wars of, with Mantua, 
97 ; with Padua and Treviso, 97 ; 
joins the Lombard League, 127 ; 
invaded by Barbarossa, 127 ; nearly 
destroyed by fire, 191 ; heads of 
Guelf party in, 198 ; nobles of, 
executed for intrigue with Bar- 
barossa, 200 ; defeat of, by Cremona 
and Mantua, 293 ; aids Vicenza 
against Padua, 209 ; factions of, 
410 ; street fighting and conflagra- 
tion in, 410 ; vicissitudes of, 212 ; 
Montecchi expelled from, 213 ; 
under Azzo of Este, 213 ; sides 
with Frederick II., 217 ; Palazzo 
della Ragione at, 227 ; torn by 
factions among nobles, 245 ; Mon- 
tecchi expelled from, 246 ; new 
party in, 246 ; city seized by 
Ezzelino, 247 ; jurisdiction of 
Counts of San Bonifazio in, 248 ; 
adheres to second Lombard League, 
249 ; parties dissolved in, 250 ; the 
" Rector " Julian introduces a more 
democratic constitution in, 252 ; new 
tumults in, 252 ; Ezzelino becomes 
master of, 252 ; attacked by neigh- 
bouring Communes, 253 ; Imperial 
garrison received in, 254 ; territory 
of, ravaged, 254 ; Fra Giovanni of 
Schio reconciles factions in, 256 ; 
he assumes titles of Duke and 
Podesta of, 256 ; burns heretics in, 
256 ; Ezzehno again gets control of, 
258 ; submits to Papal envoys, 260 ; 
Ezzelino withdraws from, 260 ; 
remains faithful to Emperor, 261 ; 
party of San Bonifazio expelled 
from, 261 ; they plot to seize city, 
261 ; fresh outbreak in, 261 ; towers 
and houses destroyed in, 262 ; 
Ezzelino definitely master of, 262 ; 
general attack on, 263 ; arrival of 
Emperor in, 263 ; attack on, by 
League, 265 ; destroys castle of San 
Bonifazio, 293 ; execution of nobles 
of, by Ezzelino, 294 ; rule of Ezze- 
lino in, 315 ; Paduans seized at 



Church of San Giorgio in, 320 ; 
Guelfs restored to, 327 ; expulsion 
of Count of San Bonifazio from, 
330 ; under control of Mastino 
della Scala, 330 ; definitely Ghibel- 
line, 330 ; party government in, 
346 ; Ghibelline triumph that of 
popolo in, 350 ; steadily Ghilbelline, 
350 ; growth of power of the della 
Scala in, 385 ; Alberto della Scala 
lord of, 385 ; ruin of great families 
of, 398 ; Scaligers made Imperial 
Vicars of, 409 ; prosperity of, under 
Mastino and Alberto della Scala, 

420 ; peace of, with Mantua, 421 ; 
splendours of under Can Grande, 
423 ; constitution of, underScaligers, 
433 ; education in, 434 

Veronese Mark, situation of, 20 ; 
joined to Bavaria, then to Carinthia, 
94 ; freed from Carinthia, 95 ; cities 
in, 95 ; quarrels of cities in, 95, 97 ; 
cities of, form the Lombard League 
with Venice, 127 ; cavalry of, at 
Legnano, 147 ; feuds of nobles in, 
201 ; records of, 206 ; Dante's 
reference to, 206 ; nobles of, 206 ; 
filled with rapine and confusion, 
209 ; parties in, 212 ; war in, 220 ; 
peace in, 221 ; separate league in, 
253 ; factions in, pacified by Era 
Giovanni of Schio, 257 ; new war 
in, 258 ; Ezzelino left as Emperor's 
representative in, 267 ; visit of 
Frederick II. to, 278 ; departure 
from, 281 ; position of Ezzelino in, 
293 ; Ezzelino given full control in, 
315 ; crusade of, against Alberic, 
328 ; new era in, 329 ; short dura- 
tion of peace in, 330 ; authority of 
Ezzelino in, 381 ; affairs of, after 
fall of Ezzelino, 385 ; peace in, 

421 ; subject to Can Grande, 431 
Via Aemilia, 20, 25, 92 

Vicenza, position of, 25 ; plundered 
by Attila, 33 ; war of, with Padua 
and Treviso, 97 ; great fire in, 191 ; 
factions in, 208 ; claims dominion 
over Bassano, 209 ; rout of, by 
Padua, 209 ; parties in, 212 ; ex- 
pulsion of Ezzelino from, 214 ; 



494 



INDEX 



defeat of, by Bassano and Ezze- 
lino, 214 ; money lenders in, 229 ; 
democratic party in, 245 ; Marostica 
sold to, 246 ; Count of, 248 ; state 
of parties in, 249 ; popular party in, 
250 ; fighting in, 250 ; Alberic of 
Romano expelled from, 251 ; 
government of, reformed by Fra 
Giovanni of Schio, 256 ; outbreak 
against Fra Giovanni in, 257 ; 
Alberic of Romano driven from, 
260 ; stormed by Frederick II., 
265 ; sack of, 266 ; government of, 
given to Ezzelino, 266 ; Frederick 
questions astrologer at, 266 ; atro- 
cities of Ezzelino in, 316 ; recovers 
its freedom, 327 ; discord of, with 
Padua, 330; Ghibelline party among 
nobles of, 349 ; becomes subject to 
Padua, 386 ; Scaligers made Im- 
perial Vicars of, 409 ; war for 
possession of, 410 ; revolution in, 

424 ; Paduans expelled from, 424 ; 
Can Grande becomes master of, 

425 ; surprise of, by Paduans, 427 ; 
rescue of, by Can Grande, 428 ; 
plot to seize on, 428 

Vico, fortress of, 90 ; people of Como 
take refuge at, 91 

Villani, 167 

Villani, Matteo, on Guelf and Ghibel- 
line parties, 196, 408 

Villari, Professor, 39 

Visconti, Otto appointed Archbishop 
of Milan, 335 ; family of, 335 ; 
recognised as Archbishop, 340 ; 
rule of family of, in Milan as heads 
of the nobles, 342 ; Otto, 361 ; 
enters Milan and made lord of the 
city, 364 ; shares rule with William 
of Montferrat, 366 ; becomes his 
enemy, 366 ; war of, with William 
of Montferrat, 371 ; allied with 
some Guelf cities, 371 ; Matteo, 
nephew of Otto, 372 ; becomes 
lord of Novara, Vercelli, and Como, 

372 ; obtains title of Imperial Vicar, 

373 ; League against, 373 ; allies of, 
373 ; his son Galeazzo, 373 ; rela- 
tion of, to factions, 374 ; nature 
of rule of Otto, 383 ; cities ruled 



by Matteo, 386 ; league against, 
389 ; driven from Milan, 389 ; 
answer of Matteo to a spy, 376 ; 
accompanies Henry VII., 400 ; 
alleged plot of against Delia Torre, 
403 ; left master of Milan, 403 ; 
Matteo and his sons, 412 ; successes 
of, 412 ; cities subject to, 413 ; 
Stefano captures Pavia, 413 ; 
Lucchino takes Alessandria, 414 ; 
activity of Matteo, 417 ; excom- 
municated, 418 ; takes Vercelli, 

418 ; Galeazzo takes Cremona, 419 ; 
Matteo wishes for peace with Pope, 

419 ; lays down his power, 419 ; 
death of, 420 ; his character, 420 ; 
decline of family after death of, 

435 ; Galeazzo expels Verzusio 
Landi from Piacenza, 435 ; and 
loses the city in consequence, 436 ; 
Lodrisio attacks Galeazzo, 436 ; 
Galeazzo forced to leave Milan, 

436 ; recalled after a month, 436 ; 
plot of German mercenaries against, 

437 ; Giovanni rescues Galeazzo, 

438 ; victory of Galeazzo at Monza, 
438 ; Louis of Bavaria seizes 
Galeazzo, and other Visconti, 445 ; 
they are released, 447 ; death of 
Galeazzo, 447 ; his son Azzo made 
Imperial Vicar, 448 ; becomes 
ruler of Milan, 448 ; negotiates 
with Pope, 448 ; defies Louis of 
Bavaria, 448 ; reconciled with Pope, 
451 ; made Lord of Milan for life, 
451 ; joins league against King 
John, 453 ; takes Bergamo, 455 ; 
becomes master of Vercelli, 455 ; 
his uncle Giovanni wins Novara 
for him, 455 ; Cremona surrenders 
to, 458 ; gets possession of Como, 
Lodi, and Crema, 459 ; Lucchino 
buys Asti, 461 ; acquires Alessan- 
dria, 461 ; acquires Bobbio and 
Tortona, 462 ; league against the, 
462 ; obtain possession of Pavia, 
464 

Vistarini, leaders of popular party in 
Lodi, 313, 348 ; Succio dei rules 
Lodi, 382 ; rulers of Lodi, 415, 436 ; 
cruelties of, 446 ; downfall of, 446 



INDEX 



495 



Vitani, leaders of the people in Como, 

333, 349 ; rise against Rusconi, 372, 

383 ; become supreme in Como, 

390 ; expelled, 413 
Viterbo revolts from Frederick II., 

295 ; siege of, 295 ; rejoins 

Frederick's party, 299 
Vittoria, 304 
Vivario, family of, 208 

W 

Waiblingen, see Ghibelline 

Welf, house of, loi ; Welf, Duke of 



Bavaria, 134 ; house of, 193 ; brother 
of Henry of Bavaria, 193 ; name 
used to denote partisan of Papacy, 
194 ; Guelf, Italianised form of, 
194 ; head of house of, 218 
Worms, Concordat of, 91 



Zanicalli, family in Mantua, 351 
Zenevolta, battle of, 259 
Zeno, Emperor, 34 
Zibello, battle of, 223 



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